My name is Katie, and the person that I am today is a far cry from the one I once was.

I grew up in a family full of secrets – one where abuse was everywhere, yet no one spoke of it. I was raised to keep quiet in order to keep those around me comfortable, and not create waves within the family.

My life has been one filled with abuse – sexual, emotional and physical –
at the hands of the very same people that were supposed to love me.

When we can’t trust the ones who are tied by blood to love us – who can we trust?
And also, how could we ever love ourselves?

These are questions that took me years to answer, or to even acknowledge at all.

There was a time that I had no one – mostly because I pushed everyone that began to care for me away. I can honestly say that people terrified me for a long time. I suffered from panic attacks and anxiety as a teenager and was diagnosed with everything from major depressive disorder to post traumatic stress disorder to bipolar disorder. None of these labels stuck – and with each visit to a new psychiatrist, I was given a new diagnosis.

And so, after years of searching for an answer, I decided to diagnose myself.

I began to focus on the mind, behavior, and what was really going on at the root of it all. I understood the mind from a Psychological point of view, majoring in and studying the field for years, but I wanted to understand the spiritual side. Up until this point, I had believed in no Higher Power, and often cursed the thought wondering why a decent person like myself would be “punished” with such a negative existence. I began to recognize my triggers, and take back control over my mind, and with it – my life.

As I took back my power, things began to change all around me.

I left the unhealthy relationship I had felt stuck in for years, lost over forty pounds, and began creating a new way of being in the world. Eventually, I also quit the job I once had no hope of leaving, met the love of my life, and married him creating my own photography business in the process. To put it in simpler terms, I began to follow my dreams – one small step at a time.

These changes didn’t come all at once, but over time while I focused on living in the moment and the importance of my thoughts and the state of my inner world.

I realized I didn’t need medicine, or even a diagnosis to find a cure for what I believed so strongly to be wrong with me. I simply needed to recognize the trauma I had pushed down for so long, and work on healing the child inside of me who had lived in such unhealthy conditions for years.

We are all capable of great change in our lives – but first, we must begin with changing our minds.

Healing Through Alternative Medicine

In 2016, I found myself bedridden and unable to stand or walk for more than a few minutes without passing out. Multiple trips to the hospital and overnight stays in the stroke ward brought no answers or the ability to heal what was causing my many symptoms ranging from passing out to full-body convulsions.

I grew up receiving experimental treatments on a Peripheral Arteriovenous Malformation, which at the time doctors had no information about. Because of their willingness to perform multiple surgeries and treatments without knowledge of my condition, my faith in Western doctors grew very low and I stopped treatments as soon as I became old enough. Ten years later, my leg (where the peripheral AVM is located), flared up and I was told the only doctor knowledgable enough to perform the risky surgeries I needed was located in Colorado. With a four year old son and no means to move to another state for months at a time in order to receive a countless number of procedures, I refused treatment.

I remained on bedrest for almost three months, and began diving deeper into the Spiritual realm, which I had been introduced to in 2014. I discovered my syncope symptoms weren’t caused by my leg after all, but were stress-induced, something doctors told me and I refused to believe for some time.

Eventually, I was led to my Spiritual teacher and community where I received countless reiki, acupuncture, and craniosacral treatments to uncover the hidden parts of my life that were keeping me so sick. I worked through past traumas and began healing with the help of my spiritual guides and counselors.

Over time, I was given my life back – in a brand new way.

READ MORE: Healing With Alternative Medicine