“Panic and discomfort took over. ‘What are people thinking of me? OMG, are they going to kick me out? Arrest me?’ This new normal doesn’t feel normal at all.”
‘I walked right into CVS with my mouth completely uncovered. I forgot to pull the cotton over my nose!’: Woman urges ‘be gentle, there is no right or wrong response’ during pandemic
‘Someone put in an offer on our home in the middle of this pandemic. Our mortgage couldn’t be put on hold. We scrambled to live in a 6-feet wide trailer.’: Mom recounts 2020 regrets, ‘Everything happens for a reason’
“I had just been laid off. Maybe I should have put up with the terrible job that I felt might have killed me, to take a temporary one that ended New Year’s Eve. Amidst all this I get an awful and mean message from someone with whom I thought I got along, and no reason behind it.”
‘I got the call from her sister: ‘Things are bad. Come now if you want to say goodbye.’ I kissed the top of her head and walked toward the door, for the last time.’: Woman loses best friend to 15-year battle with anorexia, ‘She did not choose this’
“I rubbed lotion on her legs and changed her socks, tasks she could no longer do herself. I wanted so badly to find some way to at least make her more comfortable. Afterwards, I let the door close behind me. I was 29 and she 30, but I knew this was the last time I’d see my sweet best friend on this side of Heaven. She did not choose this.”
‘My shortness of breath got worse. Then came the fever and cough. I was told at the ER, ‘You have lung damage.’ I finally broke down and cried.’: Mom struggling to recover from COVID-19 pleads ‘please don’t underestimate how horrible this illness is’
“Out of nowhere I got VERY sick this afternoon, so my husband sent my butt to the ER. When you’re sick you want your mama, your sister, your brother, your dad, your friends. You want your support system. I finally broke down and cried.”
‘You shouldn’t have been drinking chocolate milk while doing homework!’ she said in a really harsh tone. I couldn’t bring myself to tell the truth.’: Mom urges ‘give kids a chance to explain’
“I felt so anxious I couldn’t bring myself to speak up and say the truth. It was an honest accident, and a 7-year-old couldn’t have predicted it. I still get frustrated just thinking about it.”
‘I was staring at my massive basket of pre-kids clothes I refuse to throw out. ‘My body size can change.’: Woman struggling with body positivity says ‘I don’t exist to fit clothes, they exist to fit me’
“My husband saw me staring at them. My heart skipped a beat. I’m not a size 4 anymore.”
‘Half my bowel was coming out of my body. The doctor said, ‘Hannah, I have no idea what to do with you anymore.’: Woman survives life-long battle with eating disorders after trauma, ‘There is always hope for change’
“Laxatives started out so innocently, but quickly took over my life. ‘You’re not allowed outside. Any change in temperature and you’ll collapse and die.’ I started starving myself at 6. I could no longer move or talk. My lips were going purple. A light bulb went off. If I wanted to see change, I needed to be the one to make the change.”
‘My scream was something you’d hear in a horror movie. My knee was dislocated, deformed.’: Woman overcomes years of severe knee issues, ‘I’m going to come out stronger than ever’
“I couldn’t move my toes. I couldn’t move anything without excruciating pain through my entire leg. I was screaming, freaked out at the sight of it. ‘Haven’t I been through enough?’ I was DONE.”
‘An alert popped up from a woman named Dani. When I confronted him, he dropped the bomb. Dani was a man.’: Woman feels guilt over ex-husband’s infidelity and suicide
“Charles confessed that for years, he felt attracted to men and he thought getting married to me would make him normal. ‘It’s part of me, but I want you to stay.’ He said that he would try to ‘fix it,’ and that he loved me. I received a message from a Facebook friend. ‘Have you heard what happened to Charles?’ He was found in the woods.”
‘My 5-year-old turned to me, suddenly serious. ‘You shouldn’t eat too much, Mom. Or you get fat like Christy and Tammy.’ I felt tears tickling my eyes.’: Mom urges ‘all bodies are valid’
“We sat down to watch another episode of Scooby-Doo. My daughter laughed as Scooby and Shaggy devoured a pile of hamburgers. ‘They ate too much!’ she giggled. Then she got serious. I felt tears tickling my eyes. Christy and Tammy are two of my friends. This is the curse that has been placed on me, on so many of us.”