From Rock Bottom to Rising Star

Two years ago, I woke up every morning with a sense of dread. My bank account was overdrawn, my phone buzzed with calls from debt collectors, and my dreams felt like distant stars — beautiful, but completely out of reach.

I worked a job I hated, lived in a tiny apartment with peeling paint, and spent most evenings scrolling through social media, comparing my life to everyone else’s highlight reels. It felt like I was stuck in cement while everyone else sprinted toward their dreams.

I wanted change, desperately. But I didn’t know where to start.

One evening, after another exhausting day, I sat on my mattress (no bed frame, just the floor) and asked myself a painful question:

"Is this all my life is going to be?"

Something cracked inside me. I realized that waiting for motivation wasn’t going to work. Motivation wasn’t going to magically show up. I had to create it. And so, with no real plan but a fierce decision, I committed to changing just one thing:

I decided I would wake up 30 minutes earlier every day and spend that time working on me.

That first morning, I woke up groggy and resentful. I sat at the kitchen table with a notebook and stared at the blank page. After a few minutes, I wrote one small goal:

"Learn something new today."

That day, I listened to a free podcast about personal finance. It was basic — budgeting, saving, avoiding debt — things I thought I already knew but had never actually applied.

The next day, I listened to another episode. And the next. After a week, I made my first tiny budget. After a month, I started a side hustle writing articles for websites. I wasn’t making much — maybe $20 a week — but it was something. It was proof that I could change my circumstances.

As months went by, the dominoes kept falling:

I paid off my smallest credit card.

I moved into a better apartment.

I built up an emergency fund.

I started investing in courses to sharpen my skills.

It wasn’t instant. It wasn’t glamorous. There were still nights I cried in frustration. There were still moments of doubt that clung to me like shadows.

But every small win built confidence. And confidence, I learned, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.

Today, two years later, my life is almost unrecognizable.

I work remotely as a freelance writer and business coach. I’ve traveled to five different countries — something I used to think was only for "other people." I’ve built a community of inspiring friends who encourage growth, not gossip.

Most importantly, I wake up excited, not exhausted.

Looking back, it wasn’t one grand gesture that changed everything. It was the commitment to tiny daily choices — the decision to give myself 30 minutes each morning.

From broke and broken to building a life I love.

From helpless to hopeful.

From stuck to unstoppable.

If you’re reading this and you feel trapped, stuck in your own cycle, I want you to know:

It’s not too late. You’re not too far behind. You’re not too broken.

You don’t have to change everything overnight.

Just pick one thing.

One small change.

One decision that you will honor every day.

Because those small changes? They’re the seeds of the future you’re dreaming about.

You’re closer than you think.

Start today.