From Broken to Free
My Journey from Chronic Illness to Real Healing
I See You Because I Was You
I’ve been there, trust me.
For eight years, I was trapped in the vicious cycle of healing hell and doom.
Constipation, bloating, acne, hair loss, inflammation, no period, my weight up and down. I was labeled with IBS, SIBO, mold toxicity, amenorrhea, estrogen dominance, MTHFR and everything in between.
I was convinced I was broken. That I needed a complete overhaul. That if I just found the perfect diet, the right supplement stack, or the missing piece in my lab work, I’d finally be free.
I became a prisoner to protocols. My life revolved around restrictions, routines, and the constant search for an answer that would finally make everything click.
I tried:
✓ Eating perfectly “clean”: No gluten, no dairy, no FODMAPs, no sugar, no seed oils, no caffeine, no joy.
✓ Spending thousands on functional labs, detoxing my body, my home, and my entire life
✓ Locking in on regiments — waking up two hours early for my morning routine, taking supplements by the handful, melting away in the sauna, clenching in a coffee enema, and structuring my days around meal-prep, meditations, workouts, and rituals. (I’m exhausted just typing that!)
But no matter how much I did, no matter how hard I tried, the bloating, breakouts, and hormone havoc never stopped...in fact, it all got worse! I was left feeling like a failure. Thinking something must be REALLY wrong with me.
I thought I was broken.
Until I realized there had to be another way.
At rock bottom, I finally questioned my outlook on healing.
If nothing was working, maybe I had this whole picture wrong.
Maybe…just maybe…this was deeper.
Maybe my body wasn’t betraying me. Maybe it was guiding me.
And maybe I could try…LISTENING…for the very first time.
My Body Was Never Broken
My intuition was right.
And to be honest, I knew it all along.
My root cause was never my gut or my hormones or toxins or the food.
It was fear.
Fear that had ruled my life from the beginning.
Fear that told me I was never doing enough.
Fear that drove me to people-please, play small, and be “perfect.”
Fear that had put me down a path that never felt like my own.
Fear that made me unsafe in my body and mind.
The fear was clouding my judgement and feeding me lies.
It told me to ignore my intuition, push harder, and continue to suffer, all in the name of “healing”.
It told me that healing was a battle, one I’d never be equipped to win.
I finally saw the writing on the wall.
I knew I had to make a change.
If I wanted to heal AND fix my life…
I had to address the fear that was keeping me stuck.
At rock bottom, I had no more excuses left in me.
I had only one option: rise the heck up.
That’s When Everything Changed
Slowly but surely, I surrendered my old ways.
Instead, I focused on:
→ Trusting my intuition and letting it lead. I started practicing radical self-honesty, no longer dismissing the quiet voice inside me. I journaled without censoring myself and asked better questions. What would my life look like if I put the rules and expectations aside? Who would I be? Where would I live? How would I spend my days? On paper, my answers felt delusional, even irresponsible. But intuitively, nothing had ever felt more aligned. So I focused on taking the next honest step without needing the entire plan to make sense. Little by little, risk by risk, trust began to replace doubt. I learned through action that things tend to unfold more smoothly when you stop gripping and forcing and start following the flow.
→ Softening my approach to healing. I stopped treating my body like a problem to fix and started treating it like a relationship to repair. I did less, not more and I actually believed that was enough. I chose nourishment over restriction, rest over punishment, consistency over intensity. Healing became supportive and restorative, not something I had to white-knuckle my way through.
→ Cultivating safety within. In my body. In my mind. In my soul. Through nourishment, mindset shifts, and spiritual alignment, I began rebuilding a sense of internal safety. I reconnected with God. I reconnected with myself. And for the first time, my body wasn’t bracing for impact. It was arriving home.
I Had to Break Down to Break Through
I didn’t realize it in the beginning, but my body had saved me from myself.
Every flare, crash, and symptom was its way of saying:
Stop. Listen. Pay attention.
You’re letting fear take the reins.
You’ll find freedom in safety.
And safety starts with remembering love is the purpose of this game.
Once I began to heal the places I’d abandoned — emotionally, spiritually, energetically — my body finally started to ease.
I realized healing wasn’t something I had to achieve — it was something I could receive in surrender. When I softened my grip and met myself with compassion. When I let truth, not lies guide my way.
My bloating calmed. My skin cleared. My cycles synced. But more than that, I experienced real peace of mind.
For the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid, I had faith.
My faith in God, nature, and myself is what finally set me free.
This is Why I do This Work
Because I know how exhausting it is when you’re doing everything right but your body still feels wrong.
I’ve been there and I’ve lived it.
But I finally cracked the code.
Healing was never meant to be hard. I promise.
You’re the one thing standing in your way.
You don’t need more restrictions, rules, or rigidity.
You need a way out. A way home. A way to remember:
You’re not broken, you’re whole.
Living proof of unconditional love.
Integrating this truth is how we restore nervous system safety.
It’s how we take back the power, regain trust, and set ourselves free.
Freedom at Your Fingertips
If you resonate and you’re in deep right now, I see you.
But I’m here to tell you, this is not how your story ends.
Freedom is not just possible, it’s INEVITABLE.
When you trust. Believe. And let faith replace fear.
I’m here to support you on this journey.
To walk by your side, step by step. Day by day.
It’s your turn to heal and come home to you.
So let’s do this together. For real this time.
All the love,
Audrey
I can relate to this in such a deep way. I’m on a similar journey and have started sharing about it on Substack. Grateful to find your work
Love this so much!