“Oh, you lost all your baby weight and started exercising 2 weeks after giving birth? Great, but I just gave birth and my vagina in still swollen and bleeding. You have 3 kids and wake up at 4 a.m. to exercise? Impressive, but sometimes depression means I’m just trying to get through the day without giving up on life.”
‘Stop telling moms they ‘have no excuse’ to not be skinny. Being in shape doesn’t mean I’m a better person.’: Mom claims we shouldn’t ‘feel pressured to punish our bodies’
‘Eff the PTO!’ I wanted to throw my computer against the wall. I was DONE. AA meetings? I stopped going altogether.’: Mom quits PTO to focus on sobriety, now works on ‘being present with kids’ instead of ‘giving too much’ to make up for ‘past failures’
“For 20 years, I drank. I missed birthdays, sports, parent-teacher conferences. My kids never knew if they were getting the calm, sober mom or the angry-drunk mom. Guilt ate me alive and my sobriety turned me into a new person: the yes mom. Volunteer as a coach for my daughter’s softball team? Sure thing! Soccer team needs a manager? Oh, me, me. I’ll do it! I was in over my head. I thought this PTO gig would make it up to my kids, but I was DONE.”
‘I used to be a ‘mean girl.’ I look back and wonder, ‘How on earth did this happen?’ It’s simple: I hated myself.’: Woman admits to ‘cowardly’ past, claims ‘dimming another woman’s light doesn’t make yours shine brighter’
“I was a mean girl. Not the glamorous kind that wear pink on Wednesdays, but an insecure girl that ran with the ‘popular’ crowd. Truth is, I’m not even sure how I earned a spot there. It never felt natural. It felt like a competition to stay there. I was so busy trying to fit in and that I ignored my moral compass. I was a coward. If you look back on your school days and remember a time someone made you feel inadequate, know you were not. We were.”
‘For the longest time, I didn’t know what anxiety was. I thought everyone felt this way.’: Woman says ‘anxiety, busyness’ is not ‘a badge of honor,’ claims ‘you’re not weak for needing help’
“I assumed everyone overthought every detail, rehearsed conversations in their head, and had moments of panic so intense they had to sit down. But one day, I talked to my doctor. ‘Adrenaline is great when you’re outrunning a bear,’ she said. ‘But when your brain sends that same amount of adrenaline when you’re sitting at your desk, that’s anxiety.’ So now, I take this pill every night.”
‘Don’t be a prude!’ He grabs my waist. I say ‘no’ 12 times. He wipes my tears. They’re ‘not sexy.’ I give in. ‘Fine.’: Woman finally calls sexual abuse ‘what it is,’ says consent must be ‘enthusiastic, genuine’
“My phone glows. ‘Hey, can we talk?’ My friend’s eyes are red, puffy. Suddenly, I feel like crying, too. I think she’s going to tell me she’s pregnant. It’s much worse. ‘I’ve been raped.’ Inside, I’m screaming, ‘Tell her you’re a victim, too!’ But I don’t. I mean, am I REALLY one ? Sure, I said ‘no’ and lay there, emotionless. I didn’t want to. He knew that. But technically, I said ‘fine.’ So, am I victim? The answer is yes.”
‘I’d cash my check for thousands, cry-jerk alone in bed, hop in my Rolls-Royce, and pretend it never happened.’: 26-year-old woman ditches deceivingly ‘glamorous’ lifestyle, now living life ‘truly, unapologetically’
“I was making 6 figures, had 3 cars. My ‘friends’ would come for parties in my huge house. But the second I was blackout drunk, not a single soul noticed or cared to ask where I was. In my OWN house. I’d wake in the bathroom, wipe off the vomit, then scroll through photos of me looking perfect, side by side girls with shots in hand, with captions like, ‘best friends forever.’ It literally made me sick.”
‘I knew a nightly glass of wine was nothing to be ashamed of. But a whole bottle? That gets people talking.’: Former wine mom now ‘alcohol free,’ says she ‘found life leaving the glass behind’
“Once the wine hit my throat, it never stopped. My desire to hold on to that feeling of lightness would lead me to pour another glass, then another. More nights than not, I emptied the bottle and stuffed it deep in the recycling so no one would see it. I got tired of pretending, of hiding, of going to bed stupid drunk. To quit drinking sounded scary. But even scarier? Losing everything if I didn’t.”
‘Where’s my phone?!’ My arms, legs began to shake. I lost my vision. I lay on the bathroom floor, alone, no cellphone.’: Woman says mental illness ‘humbled’ her, reminds us ‘it’s okay to be different’
“I woke up feeling a little off, but brushed it off. I signed my kids into their classes, headed upstairs to find a seat in the auditorium. Then, I felt the shift. ‘This is where I needed to be.’ I had commitments, and I needed to be okay. But heat flooded my body. The beautiful music became an overwhelming noise. I decided to escape. There was no warning, no time to prepare.”
‘Excuse me, my child has a question about your face.’ Others pulled their kids away like I shouldn’t be looked at.’: Woman with Craniofacial differences reminds us to use ‘kindness’ to approach uniqueness
“In middle school, kids started to stare and ask, ‘Why does your face look smooshed? What’s wrong with your nose?’ My mom would tell me how pretty I was and I’d always say, ‘You’re my mom, you have to say that.’ I’d spend so much time buying cuter clothes, different makeup, more jewelry to overshadow my face. But when I stripped it all down, my confidence was gone.”
‘I could never enjoy date night with my husband. Guilt was always there to haunt me, to blame me for being relaxed and lazy.’: Woman learns to accept her ‘imperfect life,’ says today is ‘the perfect time to feel happy’
“I thought happiness could be measured by my achievements. I pushed to get good grades in school, to get a high-paying job. But after all of it, I still wasn’t happy. My excuse was always, ‘I’ll be relaxed and enjoy my life only after [x]. I’ll do that after I achieve [x].’ I always had something to pursue. I was never good enough for my own love, or anyone else’s.”
