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I was cut adrift from a lifelong dream, the sure anchor that had carried me through long years of study.
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I thought my parents would stay together until they died — you know, just like they promised in their vows.
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Alcohol never forced itself into my hand. It never pushed its way down my throat. And it never asked to be abused by me. Those choices were all mine.
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In grade three a friend told me, "I can't sleep over because my parents say your mom and dad are drunks." That was the moment it hit me: my family isn't normal.
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When I lost my leg, my whole world was turned upside down. This is my story…
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I began to equate love with being thin. Still, on the outside, I worked hard to make it look like I had it all together.
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In my imagination, I’ve been diagnosed, incarcerated, fired, divorced, and buried. My mind is a scary place to be sometimes.
People icon 621 People face this too.
It wasn’t like my body crumbled at once. I didn’t suddenly lose movement in my fingers, toes, shoulders, elbows, spine, jaw, and knees. For me, it was a slow, painful progression of immobility.
People icon 1489 People face this too.
I’ve always felt different from other people. I didn’t always know why I was different, or what I did that made me different — I still don’t realize it sometimes.
People icon 3685 People face this too.
There’s been such a huge loss. A large part of their soul was gutted when their family was ripped apart. It took me too long to truly understand the pain they had been through.
People icon 15678 People face this too.
Good things come to those who wait. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. But I’ve been waiting a long time. I don’t know when, or even if, I’ll find love. That’s the hardest part of being single.
People icon 3202 People face this too.
“You know, mom, blood is thicker than water.” The words were biting, hard to receive. The undertone of my son's comment was clear: "you should have prioritized me above your new husband."
People icon 150 People face this too.
I found myself in the E.R. with a brain aneurysm. It took a huge toll on me physically and mentally. My family went through their own trauma as they watched me suffer.
People icon 485 People face this too.
How can a boy expect to fill Dad’s shoes when he leaves?
People icon 3598 People face this too.
I learned the language of silence. Keep your head down. Don’t say a word. Try to be invisible. Maybe if they forget you’re here it will stop. It didn’t stop.
People icon 16516 People face this too.
I know that taking care of myself – body, mind, soul and spirit - needs to be my first priority. I’m still on a journey to find balance in life.
People icon 382 People face this too.
Shortly after having my blood tested, a nurse called and said, "You have to come to Emergency right now." I soon learned I only had 3 to 6 months left.
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Going through the agony of chemo is horrid. But what happens when the cancer comes back, right when you thought you’d beat it for good?
People icon 5163 People face this too.
I never know when it will hit me, nor why. Some days, I can do everything I have planned. I can even enjoy biking, hiking, or snowshoeing. But then, it hits me yet again.
People icon 802 People face this too.
I’ve always been ambitious, motivated, and focused on success. Because of multiple head injuries I spent three years in bed.
People icon 629 People face this too.
Indefinite quarantine meant that now, not only did I have the virus that was igniting fear worldwide, but I couldn’t go back to work and I didn’t know when I could.
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News that would normally be cause for relief and joy was just another twist and turn on my emotional roller coaster.
People icon 39107 People face this too.
I felt truly pretty for the first time in my life. Sunshine covered my world. Being with him made me feel great. But then things changed.
People icon 1970 People face this too.
I was constantly spending more on things than I needed to. I felt trapped and unable to control my money. It was controlling me.
People icon 49662 People face this too.
I get trapped in this dark place where there’s nothing to do but sleep or cry until my head pounds. On those days, just getting out of bed is a triumph that I need to acknowledge.
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Life is hard in general, but for those of us who are perceived as different, it can be especially hard.
People icon 34677 People face this too.
The American dream was lining up for us. We were living the life. But there was still this unhappiness, like a buzz in the background that never went away.
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I became a very quiet child, no longer the happy kid I used to be. I wanted answers. “Why did my mom leave me?” was all I could think about.
People icon 40980 People face this too.
He used to lock me outside our house with no shoes or coat, rage at me for an hour or more, and make me doubt my sanity. When he hit me, it was the last straw.
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I was always counting down the days until I could get my prescription refilled. Eventually it came to the point where pills became the most important thing in my life.
People icon 155921 People face this too.
I needed him to listen and show that he cared about how I felt – to look me in the eyes and be present so I’d know he had my back. But this wasn't something he knew how to do.
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Whole days can pass by without any heart-felt communication with my kids whatsoever.
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Alone with my thoughts in solitary confinement, my worst fear was never seeing my daughter again. I didn’t want to be the father that my father was to me.
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At 63, I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, caused by a rare case of pneumonia that I never knew I had. My lungs were completely black. The situation was dire.
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I didn’t even want to try taking a risk; defeat was unacceptable, shameful, and had consequences that affected everyone around you.
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For many dark nights over the course of many months, I tossed and turned, consumed with anxiety by the state of our financial situation.
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Anytime life got to be more than I could bear, I found comfort knowing food was available to me when I wanted it. I would eat even when I wasn’t hungry.
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My life spun out of control. I lost two homes and nearly lost my marriage because of my addiction.
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I was different from most girls I knew. I wanted to be a boy.
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This is one of the most painful realities of being the one left behind. From now on, they’re going to miss every birthday, every anniversary, every Christmas morning.
People icon 5203 People face this too.
Everything happened so fast, I didn’t know what to do. I was only eight years old, and had the childlike faith that he would come back to me soon.
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It was as if I did not fit in any of the categories offered by society.
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I would daydream about someone seeing my flaws and loving me anyway. It took me a long time to find my identity in something that goes beyond my skills or appearance.
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Our son Samuel was diagnosed with Trisomy 18 at twenty weeks gestation. We were told that this made him incompatible with life. We were given the option, but chose not to terminate.
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Our New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to get pregnant. That might sound like a simple thing to some, but for us it was a huge and intimidating goal. It would take a miracle.
People icon 4140 People face this too.
I felt just about everything: anger, sadness, confusion, embarrassment. I remember saying it out loud: I just lost my job.
People icon 39072 People face this too.
There are people all around me, interacting with each other, having fun together: but I’m sitting here alone.
People icon 6485 People face this too.
“Your baby has not developed further.” This can’t be. It must be a mix-up. When would I wake up from this nightmare?
People icon 662 People face this too.
With a pandemic raging, what can be done in the face of fear?
People icon 19680 People face this too.
It seemed like getting an abortion was the right thing to do at the time. I wasn’t prepared for the emotional whirlwind that came soon after.
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Even though I knew she would never be like everyone else her age, I still hoped she would be happy.
People icon 5088 People face this too.
When he was late for work, when checks bounced, when he was caught in a lie, I blamed everything but the pills.
People icon 49551 People face this too.
The one person who I assumed considered me unique, irreplaceable, and desirable was choosing to channel his sexual energy towards a screen instead of me.
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I craved to feel valued and accepted by women. I thought online dating was the solution. I was wrong.
People icon 20769 People face this too.
For the entire two years I was trapped in my destructive addiction, I didn't know even one female who also struggled with it.
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The intimacy porn promised was proving to be an illusion. I was trapped, wanting the fix without the consequences – the pleasure without feeling ashamed.
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I lived in fear of myself, and when I looked at my son, I thought it was sad and strange that I had to include myself in the list of people he needed to be protected from.
People icon 4830 People face this too.
At first it was a game to us, a kind of joke. We made a lot of money, got drunk, did drugs. We thought it was fun. But it all escalated really quickly.
People icon 563 People face this too.
PTSD can lay dormant until a new event brings it back to life.
As the years went on, the fight for purity in our relationship only got more and more difficult.
People icon 1218 People face this too.
After swimming in a motel pool, a man followed up alongside me. "Just wanna walk you to your room, make sure everything's all safe for you." When it was over, he ran a bath for me. I was still in that cold water when they found me in the morning.
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I couldn’t give her the life she wanted. Maybe I wasn’t such a great catch for her after all; my broken past and messy life were smothering her.
I had been very careful on the plane, in the airports, and in my hotel, but because of the increased risk, I was stuck at home for two weeks.
People icon 531 People face this too.
It was the need for sex that prompted my reckless drinking. That way I wouldn’t remember the deplorable things I had done to gain the attention of a guy.
People icon 6234 People face this too.
The few times we were intimate it was mechanical and void of emotion on his part. Then it stopped all together. In a bizarre way, his distancing made facing his death a lot easier. He inadvertently prepared me for widowhood.
People icon 309 People face this too.
Soon after I turned 15, one night on the swings at the park, he kissed me for the first time. Then everything escalated.
People icon 1210 People face this too.
My past kept haunting me. I had to face the secret that was hidden deep inside my heart.
People icon 5339 People face this too.
All I wanted was to be a dad and to give my daughter the love and fatherly attention I never received from my own.
People icon 4209 People face this too.
Sometimes my reality was working two jobs to make ends meet while I was raising my girls. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, and my ex told me he didn’t think I would.
People icon 412 People face this too.
There are days when I have a pity party for myself, when I mourn because I can’t have just one normal day.
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Little by little, I became the player I had always dreamed of becoming. A sudden injury changed everything.
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I felt like a failure as a mother. How could I have let my son become so depressed that he wanted to take his own life?
People icon 7438 People face this too.
I felt totally alone and completely misunderstood. I thought the only way to numb the pain was to kill myself.
People icon 437 People face this too.
The constant stress and ridicule by a manager, who didn't want me to look better than her, made me physically ill.
People icon 27194 People face this too.
A few years into our marriage, I discovered that my husband had been sending sexually explicit emails to women he had met on the Internet. That was just the beginning.
People icon 23433 People face this too.
The day I saw those two lines indicating a positive result on my pregnancy test, my whole world completely turned upside down.
People icon 1615 People face this too.
Three years ago, my husband breathed his last breath. Then began the most difficult journey I’ve ever experienced: life without him.
