Humans make terrible mistakes; we can deeply hurt the ones we love and leave scars. We don’t remember why, or the why is not important anymore, but the scars remain. One of the most difficult, hurtful relationships in my life was with my mother. Her unhappiness...
At the age of 42, I found out that I had survived two attempts to end my life before I took my first breath. When my mom found out she was pregnant with me, it was not a great time in her life to have another baby. She had an 18-year-old daughter, no kids in...
In my life I have struggled with being invisible and feeling insignificant, unwanted, worthless and useless. I hated myself. I rarely remember feeling truly happy as a child. Although I was one of six children, feeling securely connected as a family was unknown to me....
I had a deep lack of self-worth, driven by toxic shame, from being abused beginning when I was a child. The abuse started at age 6-7 when I was repeatedly molested by a male teenage cousin. Then, when I was a teenager, I was raped. Those experiences caused me to...
After surviving emotional and physical abuse, I found that the pain from those experiences manifested into multiple addictions that I was trapped in for six years. I lived a secret life that no one knew about. Sex, alcohol...nothing seemed to fill that void. I desired...
The trauma of being molested when I was a child came out negatively in my life before I understood what was going on. As a young adult, I saw myself as damaged and unlovable. The hurt that I had held onto for 15 or so years provoked me to choose unhealthy ways to numb...