“My braces grew taller, and eventually reached my thighs. I still recall each time I got a new pair and had to ‘break them in.’ I’d pace our living room till the sweat dripped and tears rolled. With each shaky step, I’d chant, ‘I want, I can.’”

‘The doctor said, ‘She won’t turn 18. I recommend having another baby.’ My muscles betrayed me.’: Woman details journey with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, ‘Find your inner strength’

‘To the mom who sits alone because the world is moving on without her, and no one realizes the truth of her reality…’: Woman asks other struggling moms, ‘Can we sit alone together?’
“You watch ball games from vehicle windows, listen to distant conversations and laughter from inside, and send your family off on outdoor adventures with a smile, but one that aches. You view the world from hospital rooms, and the walls of your home become barriers that detain you from the life you once lived.”

‘I got pregnant. I can still hear my mom say, ‘Oh Jennifer!’ when I told her.’: Woman credits husband for ‘saving her life’ and finally receiving bipolar diagnoses
“What the people at church did to me was beyond what I even knew until MANY years later. I was a good kid. But I look at it differently now. I wasn’t bad; I had an illness.”

‘Today I sat in my car, in last night’s pajamas, and cried. Like, junior high first breakup kinda’ cry.’: Mom reminds us it’s okay to have a rough season, ‘Sometimes life can be a lot’
“Sometimes motherhood can be a lot. Sometimes marriage can be a lot. Sometimes a career can be a lot. And sometimes? Sometimes it just feels like a lot all at once.”

‘I wouldn’t mind if I didn’t wake up.’ I was starving for love, I wanted to be someone’s whole universe.:’ Young woman with Borderline Personality Disorder describes issues with love and boundaries, says she is fighting and working on ME’
“I started crying a lot and cutting myself. I began smoking cigarettes and drinking. I was stoned all the time. I still missed my father. Every time I saw him in town, he walked away. He ignored me, pretending I didn’t exist. And he still does, and has for 11 years.”

‘If you acted like a jerk to your husband this week, you are not alone. If motherhood is knocking the wind out of your very lungs, you are not alone.’
“Wherever you stand, wherever your heart is, wherever your head is hitting the pillow, rest easy. If you are feeling like all the loose strings are about to come magnificently unraveled, you are not alone.”