I grew up in the beautiful midwest, with three amazing siblings and loving parents. We were all raised in a Christian cult that I have since denounced, but damaging beliefs left their mark on my life. It has taken years to deconstruct the brain-washing.

I am healing to regulate my nervous system from both C-PTSD and PTSD.

Through doing so, I’ve learned that mental health diagnoses don’t have to be a destiny or identity. There can be new life beyond our existential crises, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, panic, or depression. Even chronic illnesses and disordered eating don’t have to last forever.

So I have transformed myself many times over.

Because my life isn’t about what has happened to me, but how I grow from it. The perspectives I choose. And if I’m in love with who I’ve become through it all, how can I regret any part of it?

Even the worst things that happen to us can turn into our most impactful gifts, and our worst mistakes can turn into our valued wisdom.

This is what makes humanity so beautiful.

And I now know that healing is a life-long commitment that’s never complete. It is simply the nature of life to be wounded as we grow, or to be thrown off the course we originally set to follow.

So let’s find our way back, together.