Blog
Mallory’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
***Trigger Warning: Talk of suicide and self-harm*** I grew up with a verbally and emotionally abusive father. We weren't allowed to talk about our true emotions, instead, we had to act like everything was ok. The only emotion that was acceptable was anger and you...
Lindsey’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
My name is Lindsey and I am an addict. As a child, my parents gave us all the material things you could think of and we were a wealthy family. I am one of six children. I have one younger sister, three older sisters, and one older brother. I developed an eating...
Tory’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
Everybody has a story. Where they grew up, what their family was like, how they did in school, who their friends were. But it wasn't until I was introduced to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous in Omaha, NE that I was told that none of it mattered: why I am the way...
Jill’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
Growing up I had a seemingly normal life, however, I experienced trauma and childhood abuse early on that I learned to keep quiet from my immediate family. This “secret keeping” and an overwhelming sense that there was something wrong with me would follow me and...
Emily’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
My story did not begin in an unusual way for a teenager. It started with weekend sleepovers with a group of friends during which we would creep out the back door once parents had gone to sleep; sneaking sips of wine and hits from a joint through quiet laughter. I...
Susan’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
School was easy for me growing up. Until it wasn’t. When I was a junior in high school, I didn’t know what was wrong: all I knew was it was hard to go, I didn’t like it, and I couldn’t focus. Everyone was talking about which college they would get into. I was just...
Rebecca’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
***Trigger Warning: Graphic Language of Drug Use*** It starts out as the same old story, right? I started experimenting with pills while in nursing school. I was 21, my then-boyfriend (now husband) & I had just bought a house. We got a roommate from our work to...
Coco’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
It was a Saturday during the wee hours of a frigid November morning in 2015 that I had finally been found out. The wails coming from my hysterical sister’s mouth were horrific. We were on the back patio of her home, and I had just confessed to her my truth—that I was...
Brittanie’s Story – Recovering Beautifully.
*TW: Language of self-harm* When I was younger I thought I lived a pretty normal life. I guess all kids think their lives are normal until they get old enough to really look around and see their life is actually a little different. I was the youngest of five girls....
Hollie’s Story – Recovering Beautifully
****TRIGGER WARNING**** Sexual Abuse They first came for me when I was 6 years old. I told my parents about the assaults at age 8. The teenagers and men continued the abuses until I was 13. Looking back, as a 45-year-old single mother of a 17-year-old son, I can’t...