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I was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I've heard it's a rich area, but I don't recall... -
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The stack of pictures my bio-mom gave me had three different men in the camera roll. They were truckers, and we had hitchhiked from Indiana to Arizona. I ended up in Child Protective Services care, and this changed my life because had I stayed with my alcoholic mother, who knows what horrors I would have been subjected to. It was challenging to be separated from my mother, but it was a nice change to be in a warm and safe environment. (Recreation of one of the photos with my daughter) -
I was slated to go back to living with my bio-mom after 2 years of living with a foster family that I lived with. I had been asked what I wanted to take to my mom's apartment first, and I wanted to take all my stuffed animals. Those are your prized possessions when you are a kid. The following week, she was nowhere to be found. Not at her apartment, her job, anywhere. I lost all that I had cared for. Still, the fear of abandonment plagues me. -
I was anxious and hopeful that my bio-mom would come through the court door to stop the adoption. I didn't want to be adopted. Weird —although she wouldn't be suitable for me, she was my mom, and I wanted her. Changed trajectory because no reversing the adoption. I would grieve the loss of my mother for the next couple of years. -
I had a girlfriend in high school, but that didn't fly with my conservative parents, so I ran away. By running away, I also didn't finish high school, started using hard drugs, and drinking. I wrestled with that into my late 20s and also realized I didn't want to be my bio-mom and be an alcoholic. So I stopped using drugs and drinking before I got pregnant with my daughter. I'm still proud to have done so many things that my bio-mom was never able to do, like I beat the imprinted trajectory. -
Eloped to Las Vegas to get married. I gained an eight-year-old stepson who lived with us full-time, except for a couple of weekends a couple of times a month. Raising a step-son wasn't difficult because my adoptive parents did short-term foster care, and throughout my childhood, 110 different kids lived in our house. I had seen all types of behaviors and personalities. I became an instant mom, and that changed my world because I had a child to worry about and take care of. -
My daughter was born after 24 hours of labor. The doctor told me that she had hand deformities and he didn't know what it was. She was perfect to me. At 6 months, she had a kidney infection, which is uncommon for babies but from a common problem, too large diameter ureters, a tube from the kidney to the bladder. She had to be on antibiotics every day; any fever was straight to a doctor's visit. This affected my anxiety and stress levels. She had surgery for the ureters and is fine now. -
My aunt had been working on me for years to get it. She was a school teacher and a GED instructor. I had been holding back from trying because I was afraid I would fail and waste money on a test I couldn't afford to retake. I gained a lot of confidence from getting my GED I had internalized that I was stupid, but later found out that my learning had been affected by my mental health as a child. A switch flipped, and I was determined to get straight A's; my grade point average was 3.4. -
This one class opened my world to a deeper understanding of myself and others. After taking this class, I studied to catch my life up by about 35 years. -
I searched on and off in my 20s and 30s for my mom, mostly out of curiosity. I'm not sure what triggered the search again. But I found my mother's correct name, and then found my grandmother, who was 90 at the time! Unfortunately, my mother passed away 10 years prior due to alcoholism. -
I found the book in A Little Free Library about love and relationships by the author of The Four Agreements. I've never resonated with a book so quickly. I had an insatiable desire to read all that Don Miguel Ruiz had written. I suggest this book to anyone who wants to eliminate suffering from their life relatively easily. -
I started microdosing psilocybin. My life will never be the same. The wonders of hallucinogens make you realize how life really works. Watch Fantastic Fungi. This event touches all the systems. The micro- is in the name, referring to the dosage size, which seems obvious. Growth comes from the inside out, but from a macro to micro standpoint, it is a hot topic related to psilocybin. The government or religion deems it punishable, so that sets the stigma. Science, luckily has come to save the day! -
Finished my bachelor's degree in psychology, halfway to my doctorate... I hated school growing up and never thought I was a good student. Getting my degree changed the narrative of my life. This helps the macro as it will gain a counselor, and my micro because it will quiet the narrator in my head, who has tried to tell me I'm not a good student. Additionally, I became the first in my biological family to earn a bachelor's degree. -
I'm continuing my education, which affects my micro in the short term because it is a lot to juggle; in the long term, it will give me freedom and autonomy to do what I'm passionate about.