When I was 12 years old we (my mother and my three siblings) moved from Colombia to the US to live with my dad, who had migrated 7 years earlier. We arrived to discover that he’d become an alcoholic and was barely making enough money in his...
Stories
Trigger warning: Before reading this post, please be aware that it contains descriptions of childhood sexual assault. I can still, when I allow myself to think about it, remember the disgusting smell of beer and alcohol on his breath as he...
It was 1997 and I was a stressed 32 year old mom of 2 young children, working more than full-time at a major corporation. I felt pressure to perform and drive business results at work because the business demands were incredibly challenging. ...
The most challenging and ongoing struggle in my life is maintaining a relationship with my over-bearing, narcissistic mother. I constantly wrestle with how to preserve my sense of self when interacting with someone who can’t see beyond...
There have been so many breakthrough moments in which I crossed a barrier to self-acceptance and self-love, moments in which I chose to love me, and to stop sacrificing myself to meet someone else’s needs. I was in my twenties and was with a...