Dr. John A. King reframes his traumatic past not as something to overcome but as the foundation of who he is now. He calls it post-traumatic strength, arguing that attitude shift, not external validation, drives real change. He's grateful for the lessons and likes the person trauma made him.
Hey, how you doing? I get a lot of emails and I'm really grateful for all of them. You know, very kind people reaching out and often once people hear my story they go, man, I'm really sorry for you and what happened, which I think is a very generous and very healing thing to hear from someone. Empathy, you know, someone understands. But I always go back. I don't correct them, I just put it to them this way, you know, I'm actually not sorry for— thanks for your kind words, but I'm not sorry about my past. My past made me who I am today, and I really have come to terms with liking me, so I'm okay with it. And I think that's very important. Often people talk about trauma and they say, oh, PTSD, oh, I'm such a victim, all this stuff and blah, blah, blah. Listen, you— I am John 2.0. I'll never be John 1.0 again. My post-traumatic stress is actually my post-traumatic strength. It has made me the man I am today, and I'm just very grateful for that. Thank you. The change comes in a change in attitude.
