Shape Of A Woman

What are the things that shape us? How do we heal from the pain that echoes deep in our hearts? I am a daughter born into madness. As a little girl I was taught shame and silence, fear and self loathing. Those lessons grew into a heaviness I could no longer carry. My unspoken truths turned into a beast that I could no longer contain. I looked for relief in the deceiving arms of addiction.My life was filled darkness and destitution; broken dreams and destructive decisions. Today, it is a story of redemption! The power to heal our lives is held in the pain we are too terrified to confront. I know it hurts and it bleeds, and it makes us want to crawl into a hole! But once you face it, feel it, and experience what it’s like to truly heal it…you will never again want to sit and wish the pain away.And there comes a time to burn all that is left behind, down to the ground. Everytime I tell my story and own every single word of it, another unneeded piece of that place ignites. And in the middle of all the smoke and flames is a resurrection. It is not the figure of the broken girl from my childhood. And it’s not the animal of my addiction. Rising from all, that has turned to ash…is the shape of a woman!