“I felt a sense of self-empowerment, confidence, and security within myself that I’ve never experienced. True healing required me to sit with, embrace, accept, and finally love every aspect of my past hurts. They are a part of me, but no longer define me or control me. That past becomes more distant each morning as my daughter tells me ‘it’s a beautiful day’ and I’m filled with joy.”
“A friend posted that they didn’t use diapers – they simply held their baby over the toilet or ground, from birth, and avoided poopy diapers. I thought, ‘I’m in! Where do I sign up?’ When I discovered I was pregnant, I bought a book that explained this phenomenon that could save me from All. The. Mess. It just felt right. On the day of his birth, my son started wriggling and bearing down. I was handed a small potty and held him over it. He did that first nasty poop in the potty, and I can assure you I never looked back.”
“‘I need you to go take this test to make sure. If you are pregnant, we can’t do the x-rays.’ I thought this was crazy, went into the bathroom, and pee’d on the stick. She grabbed it, looked at me, and called for another lady to come look. The other lady looked at me. ‘Yeah, we aren’t doing the appointment.’ I walked out, called my boyfriend and told him they wouldn’t finish my appointment. He was confused.”
“I want to raise good people, not perfect ones. I’m certainly not perfect so why should I expect my children to be? I use my own mistakes as an example for them. I apologize when I speak harshly and tell them even moms mess up. I want them to know if you are working on yourself and always trying to learn from the mistakes you make, that’s all that truly matters.”
“What if I don’t want to be a mom? What happens next? Is it time to let my husband go? My entire adult life I’ve gone back and forth about whether I want children.”
“At 24, I’d been married to Peter less than a year. ‘Are you alright?’ I must’ve looked flush. My knees gave out. As I stepped toward the waiting room, time slowed to a crawl. Heaving sobs came next. ‘Oh honey,’ she whispered. ‘I am so sorry.’”
“I see you making sacrifices for me and for our future family. I see you being so open to ‘alternative methods’ so we can get our happily ever after. I see you being open to anything and letting me decide what we should do with my body. I see you willing to make changes to our path in life. I see you.”
“I never, ever said explicitly mean things to anyone’s face. I only said it because I felt sorry for you! You know the kind – those Gretchen Weiner-type girls who feigned shock when one of their friends said something hurtful, but then giggled about it anyway.”
“The night my mother-in-law passed away, everyone was a mess. Emotional, tired and grieving that she had been suffering so long. Even after being a nurse for 15 years, I wasn’t prepared for how it would feel to be the family member in the nursing role. On the way home, I wasn’t ok.”
“This is when I discovered my calling was to be a coach for women who have experienced trauma. Women who don’t believe in themselves and don’t think they are deserving of the happiness they desperately desire. I want people to know they aren’t alone, they can put themselves back together after being broken, and their biggest pain can actually be their biggest strength. Everyone is deserving of the life they dream for themselves.”
