MEET BEN
“Dad, why
don’t you
like me?”
BEN’S STORY
I was standing outside a bedroom at my parents’ house. My heart was pounding. I was about to ask a question I hadn’t realized I’d been living inside.
Read my story
Months earlier, I had been struggling financially. A real estate project wouldn’t sell. I was frustrated, exhausted, and ready to face what was going on.
A personal-development program had introduced me to collaging. I began pulling together images of how I felt: jagged edges, reds, black lines, frustration and fear. When I looked at what I’d made, I saw my dad.
I asked my father why he didn’t like me. At first, he spoke about a recent decision he disagreed with. I told him I meant when I was young.
The moment I heard myself say it, I recognized a conclusion I had been carrying as though it were a fact. My father told me he did like me. But the discovery was in hearing my own question.
After that conversation, I started taking risks. I was no longer afraid I was going to fail. My work now is about helping people discover the sentences they’ve sentenced their lives to—and explore what becomes possible when those sentences no longer have the final word.
Ben
