June 2010 Face of a Foster Care Graduate – Capri Cruz
June 2, 2010
Our June feature comes to us from New York. She spent her childhood moving from one abusive home to another in the foster care system, 9 homes total. As is the case with many former foster care children, Capri had to learn life skills on her own and she had to learn how to LIVE life and that she did! Please welcome Capri…….
Name: Capri Cruz
State: New York
Occupation: Life Coach/Motivational Speaker/Author
Website: http://www.lifecoachcapri.com
My name is Capri and I spent my whole life in abusive homes to include about 9 different foster homes. At 19, I joined the US Navy and spent the next 17 years running from my life because I couldn’t get a hold of it. Basic things that other people could comprehend, I could not, like “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” or “learn to be happy”. Happy, how could I learn to be happy? I spent my whole life unhappy, what the heck were these people talking about? So I self-medicated with alcohol. Over the years I did attend college but I had no real direction in life. My brother always beat in my head to get out of the military and be my own person, but again, I had no clue how to do that. So one day I decided to write a book about my experiences in foster care called You Were Born to Reflect Greatness and guess what! At the age of 39, I finally realized what my life’s problem was. I lived in the same fear at 39 that I did when I was 13 being sexually abused by my grandfather, which was the same fear that was originally created by living with chemically dependent parents who left me in foster care to be physical and emotionally abused. Fear was my enemy. It had infiltrated my mind, spirit, my mouth and my muscles. Fear stopped me from understanding that my life had become what it did because of the choices I was making (and lack of positive choices I was making). I was an extra in my own life instead of the main character. But today, that is not so. I’ve raised a wonderful daughter, I am an author, I have my Masters degree in Professional Counseling, I’m a life coach (http://www.lifecoachcapri.com) – (see my free articles and special report), I’m retiring from the U.S. Navy, I own my own home, I have plans to create a national organization to advocate for foster children and a million more plans for my future like becoming a professor and completing my PhD but most of all, the one thing that makes me a success story is that I’ve finally learned how to heal myself and experience true joy. I am the happiest person I know in this world. I do not hold any grudges against the people that harmed me, I’ve learned to forgive so I can move on, I practice dumping all negative energy and only surround myself with positive people now to include my 2 best friends. I am a success story because I finally realized that I co-control my destiny with God. I do not have to live in my fears of yesterday and nothing; absolutely nothing in this world is out of my reach. If I believe in something with all my heart and I speak it into existence with my mouth, while taking action everyday to achieve it, I know I can do anything I want in this world. I am free and no one will ever hurt me again because I’ve learned to set boundaries to keep negative people out of my life and I’ve created standards for the people I let in my life! I know my God loves me and I am powerful. This is my definition of success!
