One of the jobs that I had earlier in my career was that of a Visitation Specialist. I would take children who were in the foster care system to visit their parents and/or siblings. During the visit, I would observe their interaction and write a report. One of my clients was a baby who was just a few months old. Both her parents were incarcerated and so I had to take this beautiful baby to visit them in jail. Both the baby and I were searched each time we went. I felt so violated and even more upsetting to me was seeing the parents brought out in handcuffs. They were not allowed to visit together so one would visit first and when he/she was brought back to their cell, the other was brought in. 

One day, while I was in my valley (my way of describing when I am not feeling good about myself), I realized that one key to getting out is to answer the question – “Who Am I?”  This is a question that got me frustrated when I tried to answer it because I could not define it with one word. In addition, my perceptual lens was very tainted. I was too busy beating up on myself - what I did not have, what I couldn’t do, what I was told by others and so forth - that I could not see/think clearly.  This caused a considerable amount of inner turmoil. My valley journey helped me to answer this question by putting me on the path to self-discovery.

As Barbara Streisand said in the above quote - “You have to discover you, what you do, and trust it!” We have the resources to manifest what it is that we are here to do but if you are like the old Faith - that is me – you wanted to know every detail beforehand. I have wasted so much precious time trying to figure out the details or worrying about what would have happened if…, that I missed out on many opportunities. However, I do not have regrets because I did what I did base on what I knew at the time.