“I felt unloved. I tried to prove my worth and acted out to get attention from loved ones. At 14, I started experimenting with drugs. I continued on a rampage until I found heroin at age 15 with the help of an older boyfriend. ‘Please let me come home,’ I begged. I tried to stop many times. Then, one day, I found out I was pregnant. That little heartbeat was the sound of a chapter of my life closing forever.”
‘My parents broke the news. ‘You were adopted at age 2.’ For the first time, I understood my parents had left me behind, forever.’: Adoptee overcomes addiction, ‘I needed to fall in love with myself again’
‘I’m gay. I’m seeing a woman.’ My mom quickly pulled me into my room and shut the door. There was a concerned, almost hopeful, look on her face.’: Woman urges ‘I wouldn’t change my parents for the world’ after both come out as LGBTQ
“My mom and dad were still married. For the next few months, I kept my mom’s secret. It killed me inside. Then, one day, my dad looked at me, nervously turning a beer in his hand around in circles. ‘He’s my boyfriend, you know?’ My jaw hit the floor.”
‘Call your work, Dan’s work, Dan’s best friend, and then give me your phone.’ I felt guilty for falling asleep, for not being strong enough to give him CPR.’: Widow credits ‘tribe’ for healing through grief
“Living in the thick of the fire, my tribe was there to hold my hand as I walked through. I found myself sitting on a doctor’s couch the following Tuesday, sobbing tears of grief and agony. They helped me make sense of the madness and encouraged me to feel again.”
‘I was told, ‘You are NOT same-sex attracted. You just need to make healthier male connections.’ I embarked on a 20-year conversation therapy journey.’: Man ‘breaks free’ at 38 and comes out as gay
“I grew up in the thick of the southern Baptist church. Being gay was ‘sinful, sick, and a ticket straight to hell.’ I was determined to turn myself straight through prayer and punishment.”
‘Starved for love, I made disastrous decisions. Eventually, I turned to food. I weighed in at 391 pounds, my body just as unhealthy as my soul.’: Survivor details battle with demons, ‘I am a beautiful disaster’
“Frozen in fear, you lay in your bed with that twisted knot in your stomach. There is always the question: who protected the little girl with the big, brown eyes? The answer? A resounding no one. I was a little girl.”
‘I can’t wait to have a fire!’ Suddenly, the car was sliding. My husband said, ‘Oh crap.’ I’d regret those words forever.’: Young widow shares grief journey after losing husband in car accident
“I crunched glass between my teeth. I realized it was silent in the car. I screamed like I never had before, a scream so loud it still haunts me today.”
‘I always said, ‘He had sex with me while I was passed out.’ That is what I told myself it was.’: Rape survivor says ‘everyday I choose love and forgiveness’
“Like 19-year-old me. The girl who wore diamonds in her hair to the party that night. The night. The night it happened. He was my friend I took to the party. He knew I was falling for his friend.”
‘She didn’t sign any papers. Maybe I wasn’t given up. Perhaps, I was taken, or she was told I died.’: Adoptee searches for biological mother, answers to her past
“We were nationally unwanted children. It is not always the romantic picture of children being ‘saved.’ My only connection to my past is my genes.”
‘My body failed me. Betrayed me in the worst way. I wanted it to be a mistake.’: Woman’s first pregnancy results in miscarriage, ‘I’m not going to give up on becoming a mom’
“My husband and I needed to be together, but not at home. Not at the home where we were going to raise our first child together. Where we had the room picked out for the nursery. The home that had every ultrasound image plastered on the fridge.”
‘My husband was shaken. I reached my breaking point. The dam broke loose.’: Woman struggling with mental health says, ‘one of the most loving things we can do is take charge of our health’
“A lot of it’s a blur, but it scared me. I truly believed I would be okay if I could just stay positive and present. I was wrong, I was so wrong. It scared all of us.”
