06/23/2025
"Hi, I’m Jessica… and I’ve been sober for 40 months."
That’s over three years of choosing myself.
Three years of choosing my daughter.
Three years of finally being free—from the bottle… and from him.
The woman on the left? That wasn’t just exhaustion. That was survival. I was trapped in a cycle of emotional and physical abuse, and alcohol became my only way to numb the terror. He made me believe I was worthless—and drinking made me believe it even more.
I drank to escape the shouting, the threats, the isolation.
I drank to silence the voice that kept asking, “How did I end up here?”
But the turning point wasn’t dramatic. It was quiet.
One night, I caught my daughter flinching when I raised my voice—not at her, just in frustration. And in that tiny moment… I saw myself as a little girl, doing the same thing.
I knew right then: I had to break the cycle. For her. For me. For both of us.
So I left him. I got help. I put down the bottle and picked up the pieces of a life I thought I’d lost.
It wasn’t easy. There were nights I shook. Days I felt like giving up. But I didn’t.
Now, 40 months later, my daughter knows safety. She knows what love looks like. And she knows her mom is strong—not because I never broke… but because I chose to heal.
To anyone stuck in the dark: you are not weak. You are not crazy. You are not alone. And you can get out.
