My life experiences have been a bittersweet mixture of trauma and fulfillment. I got ran over when I was 14 years old and following the accident my entire attitude towards life changed and I sought comfort in drugs and alcohol. This roller coaster of being an alcoholic/drug addict continued until I was 23 and I finally got the spiritual awakening I needed to want recovery through a 12-step program. After finally getting health insurance and seeing a variety of doctors I learned that I was suffering from a handful of mental illness diagnoses, which luckily for continued therapy, SSRI’s, a whole lot of self-care and recovery resources, my mental health is in the best place it’s ever been in my whole life. I come from a family of addicts/alcoholics/mental illness, and I have been fortunate enough to lead the way for my sisters, my mom, my uncles, and my cousins. The place that I am in today came from far too many lessons learned the hard way, what felt like an eternity of suffering in silence, and eventually acquiring the ability to reach out for help. Enrolling in college was one of the greatest choices I have ever made besides getting sober and it has given me reason and purpose that I would have never had while in active addiction. I’ve been blessed with two daughters who will be 5 and 2 in January and that is also the month that I will be celebrating 6 years in recovery. My girls that I am a single mother to have never seen me intoxicated/high and I make a conscious effort every 24 hours to set a worthy example for them of how to overcome any sort of obstacle that might fall in their path and so far, my daughter who was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder has overcome things that I have never had to go through in my entire life in her mere 5 years of life. I take my position in my family as one with the upmost importance on emphasizing the reversal of patterns that were started long before I was ever alive. This journey of healing has allowed me to cross paths with some of the greatest human beings I have ever known and it has also ensured a purpose in my life to help others be able to find the same beauty in life that I have found with the help of the people who have loved me, prayed for me and supported me along the way. I believe that the opposite of addiction is connection, and I can whole-heartedly say that the trauma and pain I have endured is ultimately what has led me to having the strongest connections with others who bare their own aches and pains and for that, I am forever grateful.