“He couldn’t understand why his wife, the woman he knew who had anxiety, the anxiety he understood to be excess worry, or panic, would actually be getting angry. But as I said it… the relief washed over me.”
‘What is your problem?,’ my husband asked. I yelled at the top of my voice. ‘I’m freaking anxious, okay?’: Wife apologies to husband for her anxiety coming through as anger
‘He had a really rough go. Joe is our youngest child. Neuroblastoma is a really crappy cancer to have.’: Mom says her son is ‘doing beautifully’ after battling stage 4 neuroblastoma
“‘I’m going to play soccer and baseball in the fall,’ little Joe said, now in post-treatment. I still believed childhood cancer was rare. I even believed the kids who did get cancer would be fine, assuming they were treated at the best hospitals and didn’t have any unusual complications. I didn’t believe kids like mine could get cancer. It wasn’t until I was officially a ‘cancer mom,’ that I would understand.”
‘Nothing as grown-up as putting $1.67 on your Visa. I could feel Dave Ramsey’s disappointment wash over me.’: Woman realizes your ‘worth doesn’t change’ after embarrassing moment in drive-through
“I needed a cold drink. It was so hot outside, and I was so thirsty, and I just felt a stirring in my soul saying, ‘stop at Sonic, girl, and get you a Route 44. Think about that tiny crunchy ice. You deserve it.’ I am not one to ignore heart whispers, so I stopped, thinking I had enough change to buy it in my center console thingy. But I thought wrong.”
‘I woke up and saw him. ‘Who are you?!’ A rush of panic took over my body.’: Woman gets engaged to husband again after traumatic brain injury causes memory loss
“‘Laura, it’s me!’ He’d say over and over. ‘Who is ‘me?” I felt like I’d just woken up to the marriage, and felt no attachment to it. I’d stare at my wedding rings with anxiety, resenting them. I felt trapped. I knew the right thing to do was to stay with him, but the thought of that pained me. I had to make a choice. I couldn’t stay in a marriage I didn’t remember choosing. I took off my rings, approached my husband, and said, ‘Brayden, I want to date you.’”
‘My son’s tiny body was wracked with seizures. I stroked his tense, shaking face, whispering his name that he was safe.’: Mom says her son is a ‘miracle’ despite debilitating Polymicrogyria diagnosis
“This moment was one I’d never in my 33 years of anxiety imagined happening to me. I held my phone steadily pointed towards my little boy, in hopes of capturing his every move on video. I was witnessing something I’d never have wished on the worst of enemies. I searched ‘Polymicrogyria,’ ran to the toilet, threw up my breakfast and curled into a tight ball. When I tell friends my son has a condition that causes epilepsy, they respond by saying, ‘at least that is treatable.’”
‘I can’t marry you this way.’ He cancelled our wedding. I wrecked my car, relapsed twice, and was sent to inpatient rehab.’: Woman recovers from addiction, ‘There is always hope for change’
“I thought marriage would be the end of all my problems. 6 months into my sobriety, we found out we were having a baby. I quickly got addicted to my painkillers and stopped breastfeeding 4 weeks in. ‘Your life will never get better. Just end it.’ I sat there and cried with a shotgun in hand. I was taken away in an ambulance while my son slept in the next room. I went from being the middle class, church going, straight As, lead in in musicals, student council member to prison time.”
‘I started ‘hiding’ my social media posts from these two. I put them on the ‘restricted’ list, to be safe from the hurl of their hurt.’: Woman encourages others to ‘stop hiding,’ because you’ll never ‘get the good’ if you stay hidden ‘from the bad’
“For a while, this actually worked. I posted more freely; comfortable in stating my true heart, sharing my real struggles and joys without the shackles of the judgement they would surely throw my way. I did not feel the urge to edit or tip toe. I didn’t censor what was truly felt, even knowing it may help someone else, for the sake of possibly ‘pleasing’ these two. Or even for the sake of them not saying anything at all. I was freed.”
‘She looks so mad!’ As perfect as she was, I couldn’t help but laugh. She looked so angry.’: Mom ‘so thankful’ her daughter is ‘healthy, strong’ after shocking Oligohydramnios diagnosis
“I woke up, something didn’t feel right. Before I could even grasp what was happening, 10 people were in the room. I laid on the operating table thinking, ‘Please be okay, little one, please.’ My husband was in the waiting room, no idea I was even in surgery. All I could think was, ‘She is so tiny.’ I just held her in front of me. She looked so angry. She just stared at my husband and sons with tensed eyebrows, so incredibly inconvenienced by us. It’s absolutely hilarious.”
‘Instead of packing the car for a fun weekend with grandma, we came here, to the cemetery. This is where we must visit her now.’: Woman loses mom, says we should ‘let grandparents spoil our kids while they still can’
“My mom always reminded me she LOVED being a mother. She’d follow with, ‘But there’s just something SO SPECIAL about being a grandma!’ I drove home crying, thinking of all the times I harped at her for giving the kids too many sweets, or letting them stay up too late, or doing anything that grandparents do. What I would give to go back to those moments and soak them up instead of roll my eyes.”
‘5 out of 6 of my sisters have been sexually assaulted. We’re all under 30. I’ve had ENOUGH.’: Woman pens open letter, claims we ‘can’t change the ugly,’ but we can ‘support each other through it’
“I’m tired of carrying pepper spray. I’m tired of clinging to my cup at parties like some wild animal out of fear of getting roofied, again. I’m tired of school dress codes. No, my shoulders are not sexy or distracting. I’m tired of women covering their bruises with makeup before work. Y’all, I am TIRED.”
‘There’s no way to cure it. The pain can be crippling. It can also cause infertility.’: Woman suffering severe endometriosis undergoes 10 surgeries, says ‘no wonder I had that miscarriage last year’
“‘Does the pain shoot down the back of your legs?,’ my friend asked. ‘Yes. It feels like knives carving me out from the inside. But my doctor doesn’t believe it’s worse than typical period cramps.’ I made an appointment with what felt like my millionth doctor. Narcotics didn’t work, CBD didn’t work, ibuprofen didn’t touch it. I have kids and work and life to live, I can’t be laying down all day every day. I didn’t want to allow the pain of endometriosis to make me a bitter person.”
‘You look like a snake. You’ll never get a boyfriend.’ I made up my mind – the whole human race was beautiful, and I was ugly.’: Woman survives 4th degree burns after ‘hide and seek’ game gone wrong, embraces unique beauty
“My friend invited me to a local nightclub. Before I knew it, I was dancing with someone and their hands were rubbing up and down my back. He whispered in my ear, ‘Are you wearing a corset?’ That scared the absolute life out of me. It was my scars, once a gaping hole through my back, and he could feel them through my clothing.”
‘I’m burnt out. So, I tried an experiment. I needed to relinquish control. It was amazing.’: Mom admits ‘nothing horrible happened’ when she stopped saying ‘no’
“The truth is, I resent being a disciplinarian, even though I know it’s good and right. So today, I gave myself the luxury of picking my battles. And to be honest, it was freaking amazing. Chill a little, mamas. The kids are alright.”
‘I cried and cried.’: Adoptive mom in tears after school rewards trauma-ravaged son for his kindness
“I immediately started to ugly cry and told the principal, ‘You just don’t understand! You just don’t know what we’ve been through to get to this place!’”
‘I had a job interview today. And I had to bring my toddler along.’: Dad explains he ‘did what I had to do’ because ‘childcare is expensive’ and he’s ‘not working’
“I did what I had to do, which meant dragging my exhausted toddler on the subway, letting him sleep on me, then carrying him 8 blocks, all while wearing a full suit on the hottest day in history. I was literally dripping with sweat. We’re doing what we can to survive.”
‘You can’t be serious.’ I couldn’t breastfeed my newborn, completely covered, because it was ‘offensive.’: Mom shamed for breastfeeding at Busch Gardens
“Within a minute, a female Busch Gardens employee approached me and told me I could not breastfeed my child. Doing so would be offensive to park patrons, and I would have to move.”
‘I’m ugly. Incredibly ugly. And I’m very proud of it.’: Agender individual learns to reclaim ‘every slur,’ finds acceptance in the LGBTQ community
“According to others, I’m undateable and unrapeable. I’m towheaded, gawky, fished-eyed. My hands and feet look like fins. I thought because everyone else hated me, I had to hate myself, too. I may not be the bee’s knees, but I grew up and found pride in ugliness.”
Plus-Sized People Are More Than Their Weight
“You only see the fat. You remind me to lose weight. In fact, you’re obsessed with doing that. But you’ve never once reminded me to heal.”
‘The entire pregnancy he slept around and told me, ‘I’m leaving when she’s born.’ The girl he was seeing began harassing me.’: Woman finds healing after 4,016 days of domestic abuse, ‘I’ve taken my life back, one day at a time’
“He threatened divorce if I didn’t quit my job. Eventually, he left. As we began the divorce process, the first serious boyfriend I had re-entered my life. There was a restraining order in place to keep myself safe. Things got worse. I never thought about my cell phone bill I shared with him. He took it upon himself to call every person I talked to. He found out about my said first boyfriend and lost it.”
‘I got pregnant at 19. I only knew my boyfriend 7 months. I wanted to be a mom, but never thought it’d happen so young.’: Young mom claims ‘age doesn’t define’ her ability to be a ‘good mother’
“My body was still growing and, before I knew it, my body was no longer just mine. I graduated from high school a week before giving birth. People doubt me, judge me, and think I don’t know what I’m doing. In reality, no one is ready to become a parent. NONE of us know what we’re doing. The only difference is I met my kids sooner and I have more time to love on them longer.”
‘She’s not breathing!’ I woke to my husband violently shaking, holding our lifeless baby. I call the coroner for answers every day. It’s a ritual.’: Mom loses daughter to SIDS, says she was ‘ripped away with zero explanation’
“I writhed and wailed on the cold hospital floor. ‘I killed my baby. Oh God, I killed my baby!’ We had no answers. My husband said something about the moonlight shining through the window on her face that gave him an eerie feeling. He turned on the lamp next to our bed, and made the spine-chilling discovery. I used to joke my day was a success if my kids were alive and asleep by 10. Now I think about how carelessly I jested about their survival and I’m nauseated.”
‘I smoked pot to get over my brother’s death. To put it mildly, it was torture.’: Man overcomes smoking addiction, claims that’s when ‘life truly began’
“I’ve heard many people say you don’t go through marijuana withdrawals. That’s ABSURD. I’d literally break into sweats at the sight of food and I would randomly barf every time I left town without weed. I mean, I wouldn’t dare bring weed to the airport, right? So, to make things better, I chose to not leave my house again! What an excellent idea, right? I truly thought it was the remedy to make things better. Quitting marijuana was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
‘Today, I felt depressed. Instead of fighting it, I copped a squat in a dressing room until I was ready to put my big girl pants back on.’: Woman says depression is ‘not an option,’ accepts she’ll always be ‘the girl with a little less light’
“It was an average day. I dressed my kids, sent them to school. Then, I started to feel numb. Most days depression blends into our every day lives, but not today. Today it felt heavy. The world fed me the idea that depression looked like staying in bed every day, and because I was still rising and thriving, I thought I could get by. But when I entered the dressing room, the pain slipped in so fast I had no choice but to sit.”
‘My son wears dresses. He just wants to feel pretty like his older sisters.’: Mom says ‘we must let our children be who they’re meant to be’
“He is not choosing gender reassignment. He is not making a political statement. He’s 2! He just wants to feel good in what he wears. The comments are hurtful.”
‘He looked me straight in the eyes and muttered a single word: RUN.’: Crowd of thousands mistake popped water bottle for gunshot, woman claims mass shootings have us all ‘living in fear’
“I walked around the venue, trying to find a spot in the crowd. Then, we heard it. ‘GUN!’ Screams erupted. My friend and I shared a mutual look of terror before breaking into a sprint. Adrenaline carried us. Police officers ran towards us, guns pulled. ‘Keep your heads down!’ In the end? It was a popped water bottle. But I will remember it as if it were real because, in that moment, it was.”