When I grew up in the Bronx, we always had everyone telling us, 'Watch out for the system, watch out for child… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“Life has a way of doing that; one minute everything makes sense, the next, things change. People get sick. Families break apart, your friends… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“Things turning around for me had been the result of my focusing on the few areas in life I could change, and surrendering to… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
There was just so much attention that got focused on my story, and what that created was an opportunity for me to share what… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“Wherever you go, you'll make the best of things. Look at your life, you already have... That's why I know you'll be all right...… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“I think his paintings are cathartic for him,” she said. “After you experience trauma that deep, you need to do something to heal. Something… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“Since as far back as I could remember, I'd felt that Lisa's responses toward me usually bordered on the brink of hostility. Years later,… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“It's not that we didn't love one another- we did. I just think we didn't know how to be with one another anymore. No… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
“Making these choices [to attend school instead of skipping], as it turned out, wasn't about willpower. I always admired people who “willed” themselves to… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
I've learned in my life that you really don't know what's possible until you're already doing it, — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
Shortly after I turned 13, Child Welfare took me into care. I was sent to a residential centre where girls with behavioural problems were… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
I realized eventually that when I ran out of places to stay and found myself on the D train and in Central Park, I… — Liz Murray Copy Share Image
![“Making these choices [to attend school instead of skipping], as it turned out, wasn't about willpower. I always admired people who “willed” themselves to do something, because I have never felt I was one of them. If sheer will were enough by itself, it would have been enough a long time ago, back on University Avenue, I figured. It wasn't, not for me anyway. Instead, I needed something to motivate me. I needed a few things that I could think about in my moments of weakness that would cause me to throw off the blanket and walk through the front door. More than will, I needed something to inspire me. One thing that helped was a picture I kept in mind, this image that I used over and over whenever I was faced with these daily choices. I pictured a runner running on a racetrack. The image was set in the summertime and the racetrack was a reddish orange, divided in white racing stripes to flag the runners’ columns. Only, the runner in my mental image did not run alongside others; she ran solo, with no one watching her. And she did not run a free and clear track, she ran one that required her to jump numerous hurdles, which made her break into a heavy sweat under the sun. I used this image every time I thought of things that frustrated me: the heavy books, my crazy sleep schedule, the question of where I would sleep and what I would eat. To overcome these issues I pictured my runner bolting down the track, jumping hurdles toward the finish line. Hunger, hurdle. Finding sleep, hurdle, schoolwork, hurdle. If I closed my eyes I could see the runner’s back, the movement of her sinewy muscles, glistening with sweat, bounding over the hurdles, one by one. On mornings when I did not want to get out of bed, I saw another hurdle to leap over. This way, obstacles became a natural part of the course, an indication that I was right where I needed to be, running the track, which was entirely different from letting obstacles make me believe I was off it. On a racing track, why wouldn't there be hurdles? With this picture in mind—using the hurdles to leap forward toward my diploma—I shrugged the blanket off, went through the door, and got myself to school.” quote by Liz Murray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/d41/liz-murray-11321_daily-choices_making-these-choices-to-attend-school-in_465284.jpg)
