Meet our featured beauty with brains Amber Dean, a blogger based in Georgia, USA. Here is her story:
“My name is Amber, I recently started a blog that covers everything from Domestic Violence to Addiction and loving an addict and learning to love yourself and having faith in the middle of the chaos. Inspired by the life I lived and now want to bring awareness of these topics that nobody wants to talk about. Growing up my dad and mom were amazing parents, but my dad was an abusive (to my mom) addict due to undiagnosed mental illnesses he self medicated for. In 2014 I found them both dead due to a murder suicide. My husband has struggled with addiction most of his life and I balanced it all not knowing where to turn until 2019 when I said enough is enough and we separated, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It ended up being my saving grace to find my self-worth while at the same time my husband reached out for help! All by the grace of God. Now we are taking it one day at a time, we are working things back out but living separately and I talk about our many struggles and how we got through them.”
Here is an interview with her.
1. What is your advice to women stuck in a bad relationship but lacking the courage to come out of it?
You get one life. One single life! You hesitate too long and life will pass you by. Can you imagine being in this horrible relationship and wanting to leave but being worried about the what if’s. You spend another 5 or 10 years on the fence, promising yourself tomorrow. What happens when you wake up at 60 or 65 and realize the days turned into years and you wasted your one life on someone who was not worth it, who didn’t fulfill you?! Now imagine, you decided to pack up and leave today. You didn’t think about what could go wrong. You just thought about what could go right. And you find yourself again. You find what makes you smile, what makes you happy, what makes you, you. And in that time you happen to meet the person that was completely made for you. Life is about choices, make sure you are making the right ones!
2. Are there any memorable experiences in your life that you would like to share with us?
I got married to the love of my life in 2009, only to find out one year later he was struggling with drug addiction. In 2014 I walked into my parent’s home after many failed attempts to get them on the phone, to find them both dead, due to a murder-suicide. Ironically, this is the same year my husband addiction really took off. By 2019 I couldn’t handle anymore of what was going on with him and that crazy life, so I packed all of my things and moved. 6 months later and days away from signing divorce papers, we decided to give it one more chance, but this time living separately. 2019 was my saving grace, I fell in love with myself and learned I was worth so much more than I had been accepting. Also the same year I watched my husband start taking steps to recovery. I am so excited for what my future holds, with God and new found love of life, I know it will be amazing.
3. Given what you have gone through, how do you cope with your traumatic past and how do you overcome it and focus on the future?
Faith! Short and sweet. In my hardest times I hit my knees and prayed. In my best times I hit my knees and prayed. God touched my soul and helped me see what I never was able to see before. I am worth it. I can do it and no matter what happens, it will all be OK!
Feel free to check out her blog:
Empowered Brave Women Building Futures 