Footsteps To Freedom

I sat in the Emergency department of a major hospital and watched the tech stitch my hand up and put ice on my busted lip. I was 19 years old, and I was 19 years old, and I was so broken. How did I get here? I kept avoiding eye contact with the women’s specialist…

I do not care how many times someone tells you they love you, if they continue to berate and demean you, walk away. Love is not always enough. It does not matter how many designer bags and shoes he buys you; if he does not respect you, saying he loves you, is not enough. There…

“make peace with your broken pieces” The inability to change behaviors is the catalyst for disaster. The unwillingness to say “I am wrong, I was wrong” keeps me bound to negative outcomes. If I am not capable of hearing, I am not capable of learning, and if I am not capable of learning, I am…

Know your worth! Sometimes we get so lonely, so empty, and even so desperate not to be alone, we lose our self-worth. We settle or we stay in bad relationships for the sake of being in one. For the sake of not being alone. We tell ourselves we have been together for so many years.…

Healing Hurts! There are so many emotions involved in healing. For me, it felt like I was free-falling, you know, just floating and falling without a true or real landing. I envisioned my fall to be beautiful and peaceful, but it was not that at all. It was scary and downright terrifying! But I could…

Change does not mean replace, change does not mean repeat, change does not mean for the time being, change means changing the things that you can, even if it hurts, if the change is going to make things better, you must change, don’t turn your back on you.. It is not the responsibility of your mate…

Some of us are single by force or choice. Either way, once we are single it would benefit us to find value in alone time.  When I was married, and my husband could not seem to make up his mind where he wanted to lay his head at night. When our marriage was going well, our home where…

Welcome to Footsteps to Freedom! I am so excited to share life experiences with you all. It is my hope that my journey to freedom will help you start your first steps. My name is Valerie. I am a licensed certified supervised addictions counselor, a published author, alumni of The House of Ruth Outreach Volunteer…