Turning Tragedy into Triumph with Enoh Ukpong

This episode is all about one woman’s experience of abuse, hardships, miracles, and blessings. Today’s guest, Dr. Enoh Ukpong, is a registered nurse, midwife, author, and professor. She’s been through a lot in her life, which she explores in her book “Joy Comes in the Morning.” Enoh’s message to the world is an encouragement to turn your tragedy into triumph. Her struggles have made her who she is today. She opens up about the abuse and difficulties she experienced as a child in this episode. She also shares her journey into nursing and why she ended up loving a profession she was not initially interested in. On this episode of the Live. Love. Engage. podcast: Why Enoh felt inspired to write her book. Enoh’s childhood experiences and how her journey started. The abuse she faced as a child and what she turned to for comfort. Why Enoh focused on getting a good education. How she ended up pursuing nursing and how she felt after the interview. What happened when she went to the hospital unit for the first time. How God called her to be a nurse and why she doesn’t take it for granted. An experience that reinforced her trust in God’s plan. Why Enoh ended up putting off her retirement. Why Enoh says God is still leading her, and the gifts He’s given her. How one of her patients ended up becoming so much more than just that. What Enoh is intent on using her platform for. The classes Enoh decided to enroll in now. What keeps her going at 71 years old. Connect with Enoh Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enoh.ukpong LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enohukpongphdmsnrn/ Email: eukpong (at) charter.net Enoh's book, "Joy Comes in the Morning" *FYI - I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Quick Links: Join the Live. Love. Engage. Community Intuitive Business Coaching The Live. Love. Engage. Book Support the Podcast with BuyMeACoffee.com Enjoying what you're hearing on Live. Love. Engage.? Subscribe on Goodpods or your favorite podcast platform, and click here to leave a 5 STAR Review. You can also watch the conversation on YouTube. TRANSCRIPT You're listening to the live love engage podcast on today's show. We'll hear one woman's story of hardship, abuse, miracles, and blessings. Stay tuned. I am Gloria Grace Rand, founder of the love method and author of the number one, Amazon best seller live love, engage how to stop doubting yourself and start being yourself. In this podcast, we share practical advice from a spiritual perspective on how to live fully love, deeply and engage authentically. So you can create a life and business with more. Act influence and income. Welcome to live love, engage Namaste and welcome to another addition of live love. Engage. I am delighted to be with you today and to have an amazing guest with us this morning. Oh, if you want, I'm recording this and it's in the morning, but you know, you could be listening to this at whatever time of day, but anyway, I am so delighted to welcome Dr. Enoh to live love, engage. Thank you very much for having me. I appreciate it. Oh, well, I am delighted to have you. And, I met Dr. Enoh a few months back at a publicity summit and I was really impressed with this woman, especially. Well, I'll tell you more in a minute, but let me just give you the, the, the highlights. And then I know she is going to be telling you a little bit more about her story, but she is, she is holds a PhD in, in nursing. She's a registered nurse midwife and also professor. And she has been Just an amazing woman in the fact that she also got her degree in nursing in Nigeria before she came to United States. And she also has gone through a lot of different things in her life. Not all of them have been pleasant. And she actually shared those stories in a book that I was privileged to read. It's called “joy comes in the morning” and I highly recommend it. You need to get a copy of this book because I know you're gonna get a little taste of what Dr. Enoh has gone through in her life. But, you gotta read the book to know more. So. I wanna just have you start, if you would in just telling people a little bit about let's just start with, why did you decide to write a book about, about your life, especially the early part in particular. Thank you so much for this opportunity. My reason for writing my book. More So about the early part of my life is if I did not go through what I went through in my childhood, I wouldn't be who I, or where I am today. My core message to the world is please, please, please turn your tragedy into triumph. Do not turn your tragedy into liquor or drugs because that will make you spiral down the drain. I turn my tragedy into my triumph and that is why I am here today, who I am today and what I'm doing today. And this is the rationale. The reason why I wrote the book is to share that I honestly wish. Everybody will turn their hardship, their tumult in their, whatever, into something triumphant so that they can look back like I do. it, would've made such a big difference when I see amount of people that are drug addicts, that are alcoholics because of what they went through. It really saddens me. This is why I cannot shut my mouth. I wanna have this message out so that people can learn that irrespective for what you go through. If you look carefully into it, something good can come out of it. Absolutely. Yeah. That's a great, it, it is sad that, and, and it's You know, who knows what, why some people do do that? I mean, I, my father was an alcoholic and I don't know what prompted him to go down that road. If I, you know, if I knew now be more aware of than I was when I was a kid, I would've, you know, loved to have asked him, you know, what, what kind of pain he had gone through in his life that, that he sought to escape from it in. In alcohol, but, I, I think it is important if we can learn how to be able to overcome those things. And, and you, you share so many great messages and so many great stories in the book. Can you share with us what was one of the biggest challenges you had to overcome? I was the last child out of six kids. My sibling was so much older than me that I have nephews and nieces that are way, way older than me. So I was raised as an only child. I remember the day my immediate older sister came home. She was like about 10, 12 years older than me. And I'm looking at her like, where did she come from? And the best part of it, the first time I saw my own brother was him with a wife and a nine-month-old baby. And I stood at the corner thinking and they said, this is my brother. I was seven. So, it just amazes me. And I was like, I can't wait to go back wherever my, this brother of mine came from to babysit this nine-month-old baby. That was how my, that was how my journey started. So my mom looked at me. She's like, if that's what you want, I knew it must have killed her. I was the only one at home with her to say, I'm leaving. She said, if that's what you want, I will let you go. So that was how my journey started. And I left home with my brother after the end of his vacation. It took us four days a day in a lorry and three days in the train to get to where he was working. Oh, I was so excited. I was raised in a little dingy village. We didn't have running water. We didn't have a roads for footpaths. There was no electricity when there was Moonlight. We were rejoicing. Oh my God, are you kidding me? And that was me. I had never seen a car at that point in my life. The day I left with my brother, it was like an eye open. I was so shocked to see what the city looks like. In fact, at one point I asked my brother, I said, what are these things? And during the day given light, that is not even moon. Cause all I knew that can provide light for everybody was the moon. He said electricity, the poor guy, I had asking so many questions. The day we left home. So I left with him. We finally got to where he was and It was awesome at the beginning, but then things turned, things changed. I didn't understand this was my sick. They said my brother. So I accepted that. I was like with family member, I wasn't treated as a family member by the wife. That was how it started. And she started abusing me. I didn't understand because my mother has never raised her voice at me. I had no idea what that meant. And she started hitting me, denying me food. And before you know, it, it became a routine to the point that if I have one meal a day, I'm lucky. that young, I remember around noon at school, I would be so hungry. I couldn't even lift my up my head up in school and put it lying down on the bench. Waiting for break to run into the school garden to grab nuts, whatever I can find and eat and drink. That was what would sustain me till like 6:00 PM. She expected me to run home in 10 to 15 minutes. And if I don't get home in 10 to 15 minutes, she'll hit me and Tell me to go and do my chores. I didn't even have the energy to walk. How much more run. Right. She never understood that. So that continued. Three years into my living with my brother, he decided to go home on vacation. I was so beli. I was so happy that this is it. I would never come back. And then three days to the end of his vacation, my mom called me. The minute I got home I just threw my clothes off. I showed my mom. I have bruises all over my body. I have scars. In fact, I have one right here on the right side of my forehead. I was just walking out of the door. There was nothing, she pulled me unexpectedly and I hit my forehead on the frame of the door and split it. And she said, I wish your head was split into two. The blood is rushing out. I'm trying to control it. And she just was a joke to her. I'm like, so when my mom said to me, after that vacation. My mom said to me, you have to go back. I thought she was crazy....