Almost everything is multisided – including the occurrences that give us pain. So, we asked some of the most enlightened folks in the community to share how they have harnessed their pain to help rather than hurt them.
Jenn Johnson-Hamer
In the past few years, I have been doing a lot of work with vulnerability. My own in particular. I spent decades suffering alone through pain, traumas, identity, love, mental health, spiritual health, and more. I always felt ashamed. Like I needed to hide; hide myself, hide my ‘issues,’ like I wasn’t worthy of being heard, seen, or believed. Read More>>
Jaimee Jakobczak
I have been holding in pain for so much of my life that for a long time I really didn’t know any alternative. I started doing it as a child and allowed things to just compound and compound for years. Slowly over time, I started to unravel and this often happened in unhealthy ways. Read More>>
David Kelberashvili
I stopped hiding my pain and started turning it into power when I met my queer family. Before that, I carried so much of it in silence, trying to manage it on my own. Meeting people who understood, who embraced me without judgment, and who celebrated queerness as something beautiful changed everything. Read More>>
Lindsey Huettner
Perfectionism. That was the mask I wore for a long time. I wish I could say I woke up one day and decided to stop trying to be perfect, but it was a much slower process. I was first given the book The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown during a divorce. A pastor handed it to me, thinking it might help. Read More>>
Holly Jackson
I think I started realizing that there were other people who were in the same type of situation that I was in and they felt lost and hopeless. When we shared stories and small little wins, I started to see a glimmer of hope in people. Read More>>
Jessica Gabrielle
I stopped hiding my pain a year after I had my daughter . I was dealing with post partum depression and some childhood trauma that was becoming the best of me . I took my power back once I didn’t allow those situations to take control over me , the feelings were there but there was no voice to it. Read More>>
Erica Coppola
I have struggled with my mental health since I was a teenager and am open with close friends, family, and use a journal to express my feelings. In my late twenties, after going through many life changes, ending several toxic friendships and relationships, I realized I was still carrying loads of unresolved trauma, emotional pain, and baggage that needed to be unpacked. Read More>>
Jastin Artis
I remember when I was much younger, I wore a mask. Then, as you mature as a person, a man, a Black man, as a father, as an artist. I realized more that being silent wasn’t changing things or making me better. Read More>>
