Personal Essay by a Homeless Young Mother

Greetings  readers!

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tanea Ezell. I am a young adult mother to an exquisite 21 month old toddler boy. This wonderful opportunity to write a blog post was presented to me at a panel for Washington D.C.’s homeless teen mothers. I had the honor of being one of the mothers on the panel. It was a great experience to be able to advocate for my community. At the time, I was and had been homeless for a 1 ½ year.

Life as whole in motherhood is challenging. Life as a homeless, single, teen mother, bares many more challenges. I strongly believe that these daily challenges are durable and to a degree necessary for life learned lessons.

One of the questions asked on the panel was “Do you think there was any one thing that led you to your current situation?” I replied, “Having my son at the age of 18 in reality was too soon, based on the fact that I didn’t get the chance to focus on independence and stability first. But my son didn’t put a damper on my future; he just added a twist to it. As far as my living situation goes, I saw it as a stepping stone to get where I want to be in life.”

I am a strong believer in the things that I say. Everyone has to start somewhere. As humans, we all need a support system to succeed in life. With that being said, a part of life is a sob story that a majority of people have.  Life is about overcoming these stories. Some of the most influential people come from poverty.

Success is all about the inner desire to succeed. Being a homeless teen mother did not conquer me or my child. We are not a statistic. I believe my experience in this period in my life has taught me valuable lessons and traits, such as diligence, patience, appreciation, gratitude, and work ethic. Workers are winners!

I’m currently reading a phenomenal book by the awesome Zig Ziglar titled, “See you at the Top”. This book has a quote that I live by daily, and it states, “Man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness.”

Thank you  for taking the time to read the thoughts of a young mother still grasping the concept of life.

Much Pleasure,

Tanea Ezell