I used to be a runner, constantly fleeing from my true self. Looking back, I realize I was living a lie. I never genuinely wanted to marry my first husband—not because he was a bad person, but because I yearned for freedom. When I discovered I was pregnant, societal pressure pushed me into a shotgun wedding, which I felt I had no choice but to accept.

This internal conflict manifested dramatically in my body—I was diagnosed with uterine cancer at the age of 28. The experience forced me to confront the emotional roots of my struggles, and in healing myself, I discovered the strength to stop running. I became grateful for my cancer; it was the catalyst that awakened me to the urgency of living my truth.

The journey was anything but easy. After my divorce, which was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made, I found myself a single mother to three young boys: ages 4, 6, and 8. I went from a position of wealth to struggling financially. I remarried, only to find myself in yet another toxic relationship with a narcissist—my second husband. Despite having two more children, I endured 14 years of emotional turmoil. I realized that staying in this unhealthy dynamic could lead to a recurrence of my illness, so I made the difficult choice to divorce him. We managed to end things online for $400, and while I gave him all the money, I kept custody of the kids.

With five children and two ex-husbands, I fell into a cycle of attracting more toxic relationships—same energy, different faces. As a single mother, I was overwhelmed and stressed, constantly prioritizing everyone else’s needs while neglecting my own. My attempts at dating were fraught with disasters, reflecting the chaos in my personal life.