Erik Allen grew up in a typical household with routines like any other child of his age. Going to Sunday school, playing treasure hunt with friends on Saturday are some of the memories he holds on to today as a lot changed for him after his 11th birthday. His parents got divorced leaving a lasting impact on him. His happy memories of childhood are tarnished with what happened afterwards. His mother got involved with a man who was an alcoholic and physically abusive. Watching his mother beaten up broke him to the core but she never pressed charges. While talking about childhood trauma Erik said , “It was very scary as a young man, as a young boy to see all this happening”.
After his mother and her boyfriend had a child together, the family moved to a small town in Montana called Stevensville. The family rented a beautiful five acre property with a three bed house in it. Erik suffered another blow of neglect and hurt when he was not given any of the bedrooms. Instead, he was told to stay in the garage. “ I literally had this black plastic tarp that separated my bed from the truck that pulled into the garage. I had a fireplace on my half of the garage but in the middle of winter in Montana when it gets to negative degrees, that fire goes out in the middle of the night. It’s a pretty cold night.”
The fights didn’t stop after snapchat coming to Montana and one night Erik could not stop himself from intervening in the circle of abuse being inflicted on his mother by her boyfriend. As he peeked at them, he was utterly shocked and shaken to see her boyfriend sitting on top of his mother and punching her one shot after the other. Erik couldn’t hold himself and grabbed a heavy duty cast iron pan and hit the back of his Mom’s boyfriend’s head with all the force he had. In a matter of time, police arrived, no charges were pressed and Erik was told to leave the house.
He spent a few months of highschool freshman year hopping from one place to another, living off floors and couches of friends and was set on the path of destruction for the next ten years. Drug addiction, alcoholism and violence became a part of his life. He was jailed at 18 but that did not stop him from drug abuse. His life was a complete mess. He lived off credit cards and was in debt $28000 when he was forced to file bankruptcy at 21. It was during these dark times that he was invited to a church event by a beautiful girl and life changed for him. He quit his addictions, transformed his energy to Christ and married that girl. Today, the couple is breaking the chain of addictions, rejection and abuse that he fostered in his past life by transforming their legacy. The couple is consciously making efforts to make sure their kids do not encounter the same troubles they experienced as children. Breaking the chains of abuse is the only way to change future generations.
Today, the Top Rated MMA and The Erik Allen Show host and entrepreneur Erik Allen preaches how our past has nothing to do with the future and how we are in complete control as individuals, to be the change we seek. Giving life to Christ and changing his perspective in life helped him achieve what he never envisioned or experienced: love, peace and prosperity.
