Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Hey Darlings 💛
For Mental Health Awareness Month, we're sharing conversations about resilience, trauma, and the work it takes to heal.
Rich Kleiman grew up in a volatile household. His mom was addicted to drugs. His dad left. And by 13, no one was watching him.
He'd wait at his bedroom door every night just to make sure his parents were asleep before he went to sleep. He didn't want them to fight. He lived in complete fear of them unraveling.
When his dad finally left, his mom fell apart. She was mean. She'd be out for 36 hours on drugs. Rich just wanted to get out. So he hung out with a crew of 40 kids outside a Burger King on Broadway. He went to school every day, not for the education, but to be around people.
He got C's and D's. Applied to eight colleges, got into one. First semester, he became a bookie. Made close to $275,000 cash. Got kicked out because he literally didn't go to class. He was emotionally drained at 18.
But here's what happened:
The chaos taught him how to navigate through chaos. His heart doesn't race. His brain doesn't spin. He's hyper-aware. He can read rooms and people better than anyone. And he learned empathy, because he felt for his mom even though he didn't like how she treated him.
I stopped Rich when he described all of this and said:
"These things are superpowers. They really are."
His response? "I did the work."
This is about "personal growth" through "childhood trauma." This is about "self improvement" when you have to raise yourself. This is about building "confidence" when you have no foundation. This is about "mental health" and resilience when everything around you is falling apart.
Subscribe for honest conversations about what it really takes to build yourself.
#RichKleiman #ChildhoodTrauma #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #Resilience #Anxiety #Superpower #CopingMechanisms #Aspire #AspireArchives #PersonalGrowth #SelfImprovement #MentalHealth #EmotionalIntelligence #Empathy #BreakingTheCycle #MentalHealthMatters
Hey Darlings 💛
For Mental Health Awareness Month, we're sharing conversations about resilience, trauma, and the work it takes to heal.
Rich Kleiman grew up in a volatile household. His mom was addicted to drugs. His dad left. And by 13, no one was watching him.
He'd wait at his bedroom door every night just to make sure his parents were asleep before he went to sleep. He didn't want them to fight. He lived in complete fear of them unraveling.
When his dad finally left, his mom fell apart. She was mean. She'd be out for 36 hours on drugs. Rich just wanted to get out. So he hung out with a crew of 40 kids outside a Burger King on Broadway. He went to school every day, not for the education, but to be around people.
He got C's and D's. Applied to eight colleges, got into one. First semester, he became a bookie. Made close to $275,000 cash. Got kicked out because he literally didn't go to class. He was emotionally drained at 18.
But here's what happened:
The chaos taught him how to navigate through chaos. His heart doesn't race. His brain doesn't spin. He's hyper-aware. He can read rooms and people better than anyone. And he learned empathy, because he felt for his mom even though he didn't like how she treated him.
I stopped Rich when he described all of this and said:
"These things are superpowers. They really are."
His response? "I did the work."
This is about "personal growth" through "childhood trauma." This is about "self improvement" when you have to raise yourself. This is about building "confidence" when you have no foundation. This is about "mental health" and resilience when everything around you is falling apart.
Subscribe for honest conversations about what it really takes to build yourself.
#RichKleiman #ChildhoodTrauma #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #Resilience #Anxiety #Superpower #CopingMechanisms #Aspire #AspireArchives #PersonalGrowth #SelfImprovement #MentalHealth #EmotionalIntelligence #Empathy #BreakingTheCycle #MentalHealthMatters
