(This made me cry! I’ve been trying to find a way to tell my story for sooo long) HOOK The night that broke me…became the night that rebuilt me. I’ll never forget the sound —my body hitting the ground,and knowing my life would never be the same. Everything went quiet.I couldn’t move my body…but I was still alive. BEFORE On the outside, I looked like I had it all together. A thriving salon.A growing online presence.A big smile that never left my face. But inside, I was exhausted —always performing strength,always trying to keep the peace. I thought love meant fixing people.I thought strength meant pretending I was fine. CRISIS In 2019, I was in an abusive relationship. I had already lost pieces of myself trying to keep her happy. One night in April, when the sky soared with Aries energy, we had an argument, & she pushed me from a second story. I landed flat on my back. And just like that —everything I knew was gone. IMPACT The doctors told me I’d never walk again. But the truth is…the real paralysis started long before that night. I had spent years trapped in patterns of people-pleasing, silence, and survival. That fall didn’t destroy me. It exposed everything I was pretending not to see… and making me finally face the consequences of always putting myself last. CHASE Still, people pleasing is not something that just goes away, and although i wasn’t able to “do it all” anymore, I was still functioning in overdrive, even with my fresh injury and new disabled body. Five months later, I was back behind the chair. Creating beauty. Serving others. Smiling again (sometimes sincerely, many others still pretending) However, something in me was different. I couldn’t keep living from that mask anymore, it was beginning to slip. I was scared, but the discomfort of staying the same began to be more difficult than the horror of staying the same. CONFLICT I wish I could say I left right away. I didn’t.I stayed two more years. That’s what trauma does —it convinces you that chaos is love and that safety is selfish.