Perspective Is Power: What Oprah Winfrey Can Teach You About Your Excuses
Kintsugi Co. | Article Series – Inner Strength & Ownership
There’s a quote we live by at Kintsugi Co.:
“You can either use it as the excuse you never became… or the reason you did.”
Everyone has problems. But perspective is what separates the people who rise from the people who stay stuck.
And if there’s one person who embodies that truth—it’s Oprah Winfrey.
Her autobiography isn’t just a story about success. It’s about pain, pressure, and progress, told through the lens of someone who had every reason to give up—and chose not to.
Let’s break down what her journey teaches us about owning your reality and refusing to be defined by it.
1. She Wasn’t Supposed to Make It
Before the billions, the broadcasting empire, the cultural influence—Oprah’s life started in conditions most people wouldn’t survive.
Born into poverty in rural Mississippi
Raised by a single teenage mother
Abused emotionally, sexually, and physically
Moved from house to house, city to city, never feeling safe or seen
Gave birth to a child at 14 who died in infancy
That’s not a rough patch. That’s a stacked deck of trauma and instability.
Yet she didn’t crumble.
She didn’t excuse herself from life.
She didn’t say “this is why I can’t.”
She decided: “This is why I must.”
2. The Excuse Is Real—But So Is the Choice
Let’s be real. Pain is real. Trauma is real.
But so is the moment when you decide what it’s going to mean.
At Kintsugi, we believe that how you respond to pressure is the only thing that matters long-term.
Oprah could’ve blamed the world.
She could’ve played the victim.
And no one would’ve questioned her.
But she chose to own the story instead of being owned by it.
And that’s the moment her life shifted—from chaos to clarity.
3. Everyone Has Problems. Not Everyone Has Perspective.
Here’s the truth:
Right now, someone out there has less than you… and they’re doing more with it.
Less money
Less support
Less talent
Less time
More pressure
More trauma
More chaos
And they’re still building. Still growing. Still showing up.
That’s not a knock on you.
That’s a reminder—your problems are valid, but they’re not unique.
You are not disqualified by your pain.
You are built through it.
4. The Power of Reframing
One of Oprah’s greatest skills isn’t broadcasting—it’s reframing. She learned how to ask:
“What is this here to teach me?”
“How can I use this, instead of letting it use me?”
“What’s the lesson inside this pain?”
Most people stop at why me?
She went deeper.
This is the mindset shift we teach at Kintsugi:
Don’t ask why the challenge happened. Ask what you’re supposed to build through it.
Don’t make your story your ceiling. Make it your platform.
Don’t just carry your pain—convert it into purpose.
5. Your Pain Can Be a Reason or a Story. Choose Carefully.
At Kintsugi Co., we meet people at all stages of their journey.
Some show up with scars. Some show up with chips on their shoulder. Some show up with a mountain of pressure.
But the question is always the same:
Are you going to let this be the story of why you couldn’t…
Or the reason that no one like you ever did until now?
That’s what Oprah did.
That’s what the greats do.
That’s what we expect here.
Final Thought: Use It or Be Used By It
We don’t get to choose every chapter of our life story.
But we do get to choose what kind of character we become in it.
You can fold. You can freeze. Or you can forge forward.
Just remember:
Someone with less is doing more. Someone with worse is doing better.
The difference isn’t luck. It’s perspective.
And the refusal to let pain be the end of the story.