Second Chance
SECOND CHANCE
Kenyon Glover
Originally from Monroe, Louisiana, Kenyon Glover rose from the deepest depression to truly living again. From NBA to model, actor and health and fitness expert, it wasn’t all glory and fame. Kenyon’s life journey is the true definition of a second chance.
Kenyon, like many young boys, grew up with the dream of being the next Michael Jordan. That dream was becoming more of a reality when he went on to play professional basketball overseas in England.
Soon after Kenyon felt the uncompromising itch for the NBA. Definitely a dream come true after being picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks, he was finally moving towards his life goal. But then something happened.
I played a short stint in the NBA for a couple of years until I got hurt. I had one of those unfortunate career ending knee injuries… which pretty much ended my career at an early stage in my career… in my life. I took it very hard to the point where I attempted to take my own life. But… um… but was unsuccessful… thank God. I’m still here.
This is a story that Kenyon has told on several occasions, yet each time he remembers that day… what must have been the lowest moments of his life. There are so many people who have been in this very situation – feeling as if there were no way out of that deep hole of depression and unhappiness. Many of those aren’t here to talk about how they made it through that pain, but Kenyon… gratefully shares his story with many to help someone who may be silent about their own pain.
So what happened? How was he able to escape death? I’ll let him tell it…
I attempted to shoot myself [pause] in the head. I put the gun to my head and I pulled the trigger. It was a revolver… and it didn’t go off. I’m like okay… what’s wrong with this thing… I know it should work. I’ve shot it before. I go to the shooting range all the time. I know it works. So I checked the bullets and everything. I spun the revolver and tried it again. I tried it again and it didn’t go off. So now I’m thinking it must be jammed so I take it outside and I shot it in the air [pause] and it goes off.
The transition from wanting to die to knowing your purpose is to live… will remove any doubt you ever had about getting passed a bad storm in your life. At this pivotal moment, Kenyon knew God had something better for him and desired for him to live.
At that moment I knew God was with me. He was not ready to bring me home. There was a bigger plan for my life. So at that point in time, I knew I was here for a reason. God was keeping me here for a reason. Whatever that reason [is] I have to continue on with my life to find out. So that’s what pretty much kept me going after that. I was like, you know what, I hear you Lord… thank you for speaking to me. Thank you for sparing my life. Thank you for keeping me here. I know I have a bigger purpose now.
After that I got into the word [Bible]… I started praying and start getting back into the church to get my confidence back up. I was so glad that God had spared me. I’m just enjoying life right now. I thank God every day.
We’ve all heard the horror stories of incidents just like this. Tragedies that darkened communities and brought families to their knees. Miraculously, that revolver didn’t go off. Remarkably, he realized the truth… that his life mattered. That he was put on this earth for a specific reason and even though he wasn’t sure what that reason was, he was desperate to find out and eager to live again.
I feel like us a people, especially African-Americans we’re hard on ourselves. Sometimes we feel like we can’t get a break…like the world is against us because of our skin color. It gets very frustrating… very depressing. We have to develop the mentality that God didn’t make us for no reason. You know? God made us all different for a reason. We all have different backgrounds. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves and feel depressed because we feel like we can’t get a break. We have to keep going. Keep pushing for our dreams and aspirations. God has every one of us here for a purpose.
The key to a fulfilled life is living your purpose. This experience drove him to be a positive influence to not just youth, but adults as well. Mentoring and speaking on his personal battles have helped people deal with depression all over the world. Kenyon even stated this is his testimony.
After I got out of that depression mode… feeling sorry for myself mode, I started doing other things. I started getting involved in modeling and caught the interest of some agents, photographers and started booking modeling work all over the world. And then got into acting a short time after that. Acting pretty much took the lead. It became my new passion. I just fell in love with and have been doing it ever since.
Kenyon talked about his “first big gig” being his role on the popular long-running soap opera, Young & the Restless. As his acting skills progressed he moved on to television series, Criminal Minds, CSI, and NCSI among others.
I’m here. It’s good. I’m still doing it. Still going for those big, big movies. The downside is there are so many people going after the same roles and they’ll do whatever to try and block you because they want that role. And if you do get it, they’ll throw shade on you and say stuff like, he didn’t deserve that role. But it’s supposed to be hard. That’s what builds character… integrity. You have to keep going. You have to keep pushing. Eventually you’ll have that breakthrough. Do not give up!
Moral of the story. Our hardships are to make us stronger… to prepare us for greater. No matter how tough… no matter how bad it seems, God always has the answer. There’s a purpose for your life. Never give up on YOU!
Blessings,
LSherie
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Kenyon not only mentors and pushes his passion for acting, but he’s also an advocate for healthy lifestyle. As a health and fitness expert, Kenyon travels the country pressing his influence on taking care of your body with his coined event, The KG Experience. The KG Experience is a boot camp of hard core training that pushes every button to make you uncomfortable about bad eating habits and lack of exercise. Be on the lookout for this boot camp coming to a community near you.
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“You Don’t Have to Be Famous to Be Relevant.”
The LSherie Alert, LLC
