Chelsea

I’ve had a very volatile relationship with my body; but I’m taking control of that now, along with my mental health.

I’ve abused my body in all kinds of ways. I was homeless at 13, and I lived with a boyfriend who was physically abusing me. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I went through so many things that a teenager should never have to go through, and I have PTSD.

I had a breakdown during the pandemic. I was completely isolated and alone, I was furloughed; I felt like I didn’t have any control over my life. That’s when I realized I needed help.

I’ve been in therapy for two years, but it takes longer than two years to unlearn the unhealthy things, to learn how to feel safe, and especially how to have healthy boundaries. When you grow up in an environment where there aren’t any boundaries, you just don’t even know what they are.

You don’t know how bad you feel until you start feeling better. And this year I’ve felt alive — like a person. I’ve been working out, and I’m working toward a personal training certification — I want to teach trauma-informed yoga. I’m learning to love myself where I am.

As women, we often minimize what we experience; we’re taught to be small, to stay quiet, to fit a mold others created for us. And we minimize ourselves instead of saying out loud, “This was bad, and this happened to me.”