“I met my first husband at 19. We married at 21. He loved how I was plus-sized and enjoyed giving me unhealthy foods as ‘treats.’ He joined the Air Force. ‘There’s a woman in my unit who reminds me of you, but she’s a lot thinner. I have a crush on her.’ We went out to dinner. ‘Enjoy eating like this now because this stops when we get on base.’ I found out he’d been talking to other women while I was in the hospital.”
‘If you want to kill yourself I’ll help you pull the trigger,’ my dad told me. ‘You’ll sit here and eat.’: Woman fights obesity, undergoes weight loss surgery at husband’s demand, ‘my soul is healing with each bout of laughter’
‘I see you,’ he’d text me. We rode the same bus. The stop was in front of my house, so he knew where I lived.’: Woman recalls 3 stalking encounters that still leave her in fear, ‘I constantly look for the closest object I could use to hit them if they were to attack me’
“Growing up, I always heard, ‘it’s the quiet ones you have to look out for,’ when it comes to people stalking you or committing gruesome crimes. While I’m sure this isn’t always the case, it was the case for me. My mom always told me to be nice to everyone, even if other people are being mean, so that’s what I did. I felt bad no one ever talked to him, so I made an effort to be nice to him.”
‘Do you mind if we pray together?’ He voted for Trump, I voted for Hilary. He grabbed my hands. Tears started to flow.’: Woman loses son to ‘senseless murder,’ shares co-worker’s act of kindness despite differences
“I was having a tough time yesterday missing my son. He was senselessly murdered this summer during college. I usually hide it behind a smile, but on this day, I just couldn’t. Zach and I work together at the Ford truck plant. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. Like many, he said ‘sorry.’ We went back to work. Minutes later, he came back. Tears started to flow. Who knew 2 people with so little in common could share something so big and beautiful?”
‘6 weeks pregnant with our surprise third baby, my husband of 7 years packed his bags and left me.’: Woman empowered to embrace single parenting after husband leaves her during pregnancy, ‘You are worthy. I finally believed it.’
“My face was red and my eyes were swollen from sobbing. When we were good, we were great. When we were bad, we were absolutely volatile. She dropped the inevitable bombshell. ‘Where do you think this is coming from?’ ‘What he put me through,’ I replied. ‘Deeper, Amber.’ It hit me. There was no miracle. Our marriage was over.”
‘Well… It’s complicated…’ An old friend asked me if I was happy.’: Man who suffers from depression explains the difficult balancing act it can be
“I have a good marriage, a good family, a nice home, and a stable career. I went to college and I’ve published books. But that’s the thing with depression. It doesn’t care how good your life is. I think that’s one of the hardest things to explain.”
‘Anxiety is just in your head.’ ‘It’s not as bad as you make it out to be.’ This is what anxiety looks like. My raw, scratched up face and chest.’: Woman candidly shares the reality of anxiety
“It’s not just feeling worried, or feeling your heart race. It’s picking your skin until it bleeds. It’s walking into the mall, feeling your hands turn to jello, and looking for the closest exit. It’s always feeling like you’re about to throw up, constant headaches from clenching your teeth together from worry, and needing to remind yourself it’s okay to leave the party.”
‘You’re my mom,’ he said. WHAT? I gave birth to a GIRL. Second of all, my daughter died at birth. ‘Could it be?!’: Mom reunites with son 29 years after being told he ‘died at birth’
“As soon as I gave birth, my mother told the doctor, ‘Get the baby out of here! We’re not keeping it.’ That crushed my soul. I was 16 and never allowed to see my daughter. I overheard the nurse say ‘severe infection.’ I cried even more. ‘She didn’t make it.’ 29 years later, after the birth and death of my daughter, I received an email on Ancestry.com. Deep in my heart, I knew. My mind was racing.”
‘Good thing you didn’t get attached.’ He wasn’t a puppy. Jensen was my child, my sweet baby. I’ll always be attached.’: Mother recalls rude comments she’s heard since her son was stillborn, ‘Do not compare anything to losing a child’
“‘Isn’t it time for you to be moving on?’ No. I will never move on. My child died, it’s not like I lost an earring. You don’t just pick up and move on to the next thing. ‘God wanted him more.’ This did not comfort me. My doctor said this. He didn’t call Jensen a him, he actually said, ‘God wanted it more.’ My son is not an it.”
‘What if I never love my child? I hate being a mom.’ The day she was born, I became a different person.’: New mother suffers severe postpartum depression, ‘I was on the brink of suicide’
“The moment after her birth I had so longed for – the intense emotion I was supposed to have, never happened. The feeling I was supposed to get when she first cried, never happened. The love I was ‘supposed’ to have seeing Dan hold our daughter, never happened. The day she was born, I became a different person. I started hearing and seeing things. These images and voices would pop into my head.”
‘Can we put a nightlight in our bedroom?’ I asked my husband at 26. I felt like a burden.’: Woman suffers severe anxiety, mental illness convinces her ‘someone is standing in a dark corner of our room’
“It’s not normal to be 26 years old and be terrified to stay in your house alone. My husband was out of state for work. I worried about it for 2 months. I kept telling myself over and over, ‘You are going to be fine.’ I was fine until 9:30 p.m. when all of a sudden, it hit me. If someone broke in, I couldn’t hear it. I snapped into panic. I’ve asked my husband countless times, ‘Do you still love me? Why do you want to be with me?’”
