STEPHANIE'S STORY
I was a victim of domestic violence. In 2010, my ex-partner’s emotional abuse culminated in a physical outburst.
He cracked my skull. I had spinal fluid oozing out of my nose.
Even after I had escaped and put him in prison, my depression was crippling.
I felt like I was drowning, clinging to a doc while someone stepped on my head; and all I wanted to do was breathe.
Desperate for relief, I invested in a life coach who empowered me by teaching me to create lasting change. I also turned to equine therapy. Although I had grown up riding horses, the abuse had planted a newfound, unexplainable fear in me. I was terrified to go to that ranch and hop on that horse, but I did it anyway, day after day.
And that’s where the transformation occurred: in my choice to saddle up even when I was scared to death. There’s something in that choice. It changes you.
One day, I got up to head to the ranch, and my fear was nowhere to be found. It had gone. Vanished. Dissipated overnight.
After months of white-knuckled persistence, I was free.