“Never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Your experience of facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your greatest advantages.”
— Michelle Obama
From various speeches. Obama grew up on Chicago's South Side and was told by a school counselor she was not Princeton material. She proved everyone wrong.
They told me I was not Princeton material. A school counselor looked at my grades, looked at me, and decided I was aiming too high. I applied anyway. Got in. Then Harvard Law. Then I became a lawyer, a hospital executive, and eventually First Lady. Every person who doubted me gave me more fuel. Every closed door made me knock harder on the next one. Your hardships are not your weakness. They are your secret weapon. The person who has overcome nothing has proven nothing. You have proof.