For a long time, I thought being strong meant pushing through, keeping everything together, and finding a way to carry on, even when life felt impossibly heavy.
But over time, I began to understand that surviving and healing are two very different things.
I wrote Beyond Survival because my story is a part of who I am, and I wanted to be brave enough to share it. It holds the love I've experienced, the losses I've endured, the challenges that changed me, and the journey of finding my way forward.
Writing this memoir meant revisiting some of the hardest chapters of my life. It wasn't always easy, but I realized that the things we've been through don't have to define how our stories end.
My hope is that someone who reads my book will see a little of themselves in my journey. That someone who feels broken, lost, or alone will be reminded that they aren't alone, that healing doesn't happen overnight, and that it's never too late to begin again.
I can't change the chapters I've lived, but I can choose what I do with them. And for me, this book is part of that choice.
Because for years, I survived because I had to. Now, I heal because I want to.