Monique 's Story

The Journey Begins to Self Discovery

2020 was a year that my daughter like many other teenagers faced COVID, home schooling , fires, sport taken away and then isolated from friends. What else can 2020 take from a teenager!

The reality for me as a mum came the night of my daughters formal, I could see in her dress that she had become a girl I didn’t know , she was disappearing before our families eyes.
It was the night I realised the time was here to stop and intervene to get the support to help our daughter/ sister/ granddaughter to get the guidance to help her understand who she now was. She was a prominent dancer, scholarships to various dance schools and was strong, vibrant and full of life, that is the person we knew and that is the person who we are aiming to get back to our family/community and dance world.
It is a journey ,and it is hard, tiring, emotional and in some way rewarding especially when you have the wins like following the dietitian plan, YES we all say.
The journey will have highs and lows but that is why it is called the journey , as my daughter says “mum it is small steps” and yes it is. We will continue to ensure the journey continues with the WINS! This is 2021 a new journey begins for us and hope it ends with a lot of Highs as 2020 wasn’t the year for this. Every small step to victory is important especially for all loved ones involved as you want the person back you knew prior to the disease but in your heart you know this may not be, so take the step forward and cuddle the new person you see as this is the person you have to now get to know. It is difficult but with every support process we have and get to guide us ,we are being hopefully we will get a glimpse back of the person we knew before. Small steps big reward and embrace the person who now is in front of you. They do need you more then you know and it is ok to say I am not ok, and just remember as a family you are all on a journey to self discovery and it will be difficult and at times you will say you can’t do it but you can and will, for the love of the person struggling with this disease that is what will guide you to self discovery.