IN YOUR OWN WORDS OVERCOMING YOUR PAST BY RAELENE JOHNSON, VOICE VENDOR HOW DO YOU OVERCOME BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN TO YOU? Do you think of your past daily? Do you always ask, “Why me.” over and over again? Do people say to you, ”You are no good, you will never be anything”? Over time, you will start to believe these words. You will give up on Self, stop even trying, believing you are nothing, so you take the painful insults from others, thinking that’s all you should get. When bad things happen to you when you are young, you don’t know where to turn or how to get help. You stay broken and lost. You long to be loved but don’t love Self, so you can’t receive love or truly give love back to someone. RAELENE JOHNSON. CREDIT: CORTNEY TABERNA Until Self can truly love Self, no relationship can work. Take care of Self by first, finding out what or why bad things happened when you were young that are keeping you stuck. Until you know what you really need to deal with, you will never be free. The past has a way of holding tight to us, like a demon that pulls us back and keeps showing us the past hell we lived in, or that keeps us from seeing that our past is not our future. The past is just that – it is behind your butt. Let it go! Get help if you need it. Only you can overcome your past. Be the BEST SELF you can, so you WILL LIVE THE BEST LIFE EVER. You are worth so much, so let it SHINE! You can find peace, but you have to overcome the past first. I know you can do it, Self. ■ “BACK ON THE STREETS” BY REA BROWN, VOICE VENDOR Editor’s note: Denver VOICE vendor, Rea Brown, wrote this “Back on the Streets” piece in homage to Brian Augustine, who passed away in January. When he died, Augustine was writing a monthly column about what it was like to return to living on the streets when he could no longer afford his rent. Through the end of this year, Brown intends to continue contributing, or to encourage other VOICE vendors to contribute something in honor of Brian Augustine’s legacy. WHAT WILL TOMORROW BRING especially because it’s spring? Usually when the weather gets better there’s a measure of pleasure that brings people together for whatever endeavors REA BROWN. CREDIT: GILES CLASEN especially wedding receptions, sports and other professions, even graduations are places you can find an outdoor procession But I will ask all to look close at the question Most will propose that less clothes are an obvious blessing The more studious would stand alarmed at the possible lesson on lessons The homeless population abrasion or the continuation frustration the sweep and displacement and now the political races Adjacent to not smelling fentanyl on occasions or in places where breaks are taken or enjoying “you” time when the day ends Is the user on his or her way to the pavement after taking so many smokes they don’t know where the day went? In the open air, few even care about the Foul scent Another life ends among so-called friends congregating I mean, what will tomorrow bring especially because it’s spring? Usually, when the weather gets better, there’s a measure of pleasure that brings people together for whatever endeavors. ■ 12 DENVER VOICE May 2023
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