She Realized Survival Wasn’t the Same as Living

“I’ve fought for everyone else my whole life. I just want someone to fight for me.”

Lori’s life was marked by battle—birth trauma, cancer, single motherhood, caretaking, and quiet endurance. But none of those were the shift.

The shift came when she said that line out loud—not with anger, not with bitterness, but with a kind of soft devastation.

Because sometimes the heaviest moments aren’t when the pain peaks…They’re when we realize we’ve been carrying it alone for too long.

Lori’s strength was never in question. But for the first time, her need was.

And when she finally voiced it—without apology, without shrinking—that was the shift:

From existing in service to others…to finally asking, “What about me?”

Not out of selfishness. Out of worthiness.

That’s the beginning of life after survival. That’s where healing begins.