The boy who chose to believe

I was eight years old when I first asked myself: "Why me?" Why am I the one who has to leave home, go to boarding school, sleep behind bars, and wait every night for the guard to tell me a story so I can fall asleep? Why am I the one who has to figure out on my own why mom is screaming and why dad is not home? Why do I feel like a guest in someone else's world?

In those years, between lonely nights and the existential thoughts of a small child, I didn't realize that I was asking the most important questions in life. I didn't know, then, that the answers don't come from outside, but are slowly built from within.

In the eighth grade, when my father went to prison, I suddenly stopped being a child. I became a brother, a responsible adult, the one who has to take care of mom, bring money, go to work after school. I stopped dreaming, because I didn't have time. Dreams, I thought then, are a luxury. Only later did I realize that those who don't dream, don't survive.

And despite everything, I didn't break down. Maybe because of everything.

In the lowest place, I decided to choose. Not on the easy path, but on the path I build myself.

I founded "Your Choice" out of this understanding: that no one is born with a roadmap, but everyone can choose to walk, even when everything around is dark.

My story is not a story of pity. It is a story of choice. To choose to stand up. To choose to believe. To choose to break the silence and turn the pain into light.

And that is the message I bring to every lecture, workshop or conversation with a boy or girl: You are not alone. You are not an accident. You are not stuck. You can.

As long as you hold your story, you hold the key to your life.