Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
“They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.”- a Mexican Proverb.
I live by this quote because it speaks to the core of how I’ve survived, how I’ve become. I’ve been buried in silence, shame, grief, and rejection. As a trans man, I’ve felt the weight of people trying to erase me. As a creator and as a human being who has known deep loss and deep injustice, I’ve felt small. But this quote reminds me that the soil they thought would smother me became the ground I rooted into.
Being buried isn’t the end. It’s the start of a transformation they never expected.
Every painful experience, every time I was dismissed, doubted, or devalued became fuel for something greater. I took that darkness and grew from it. I let it teach me. And through that growth, I’ve found strength that’s quiet, steady, and impossible to fake.
This quote is also about defiance. It’s about being told I wouldn’t make anything of myself, and deciding to blossom anyway. It reminds me that even when the world tries to erase people like me, our stories don’t just survive. They thrive. Our existence pushes through concrete. Our art blooms in places no one watered. Our lives are proof that growth is still possible in the harshest conditions.
So when I say I live by this quote, I mean it. I carry it like a seed in my chest, germinating every time I speak, create, or simply exist without apology.
Much love ❤️
Axton N. O. Mitchell
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