Shannon Marie's Story: The Only Way Out Is Through

My life started rough pretty young. When I was about 6 my uncle began molesting me nightly and I held on to that secret until I was 17. Because of that, I had low self worth.  My whole life with men and relationships I used my body as a tool, looks as a tool, disrespected my body, and let men treat me poorly. I also had horrible anxiety and ADHD, learning was so difficult for me because of ADHD.  The school I was in put me in a class for "special needs kids" because learning was difficult for me. After not graduating High School- I believed in fairy tales and happy endings...but attracted the wrong men.  My first marriage was to an alcoholic.  We had 2 children together, I never went out or had a social life, then, suddenly a friend asked me to go out...  I met someone else and got pregnant; Iwas unfaithful to my first husband and we ended up getting divorced.  I thought the man whom got me pregnant was "my prince" but, really, he was a man whom could never hold a job, lived with his mom and dad, and I fell into that life. I always worked...  eventually he became a man who delivered drugs so I kicked him out.  Within 6 months  I met another man whom I prayed was the one, but he was a man full of trauma and issues.  He was extremely narcissistic and toxic.  I still kept working, being a single mom and just kept running towards the red flags. He ended up having a mental illness and my world came crumbling down because he refused medication. We are no longer together, my 2 oldest children have moved out, and I have an 18 year old at home.  His father has refused to be a father and has not been in his son's life for the past 8 years, not even financially.  I suffer from PTSD & high functioning anxiety...

To turn my life around I realized the only person I can depend on is myself. Seeking therapy weekly helps immensely plus recognizing ADHD and being treated for it.

The 3 things I've done to move closer to happiness are learning to save money,  that you have to go through it to get to the other side, and that life is too short, we are never promised tomorrow.

I am a Beautiful Disaster because I have overcome so much bad, so much toxicity, and so much narcissistic abuse.

I identify with the Beautiful Disaster Brand because every collection BD has, I can absolutely relate to. They make me feel inner strength and that I'm not alone.

My favorite Beautiful Disaster collection is "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger" because I am stronger than I ever thought!!