Kaylene's Story of Possibility
Resource Coordinator & Seamstress
Kaylene
“I knew that where I was wasn’t always where I was going to be.”
Kaylene’s story started later in life while enduring a bad marriage.
Making changes to better herself and her life brought negativity from her second husband, “He was really hard on me, criticizing everything I had changed to improve myself and my life. I thought it was for the better but there was nothing I could do and I just lost hope”. She lost both love for herself and the motivation to care about things. She needed a way to escape the reality she was living in. Her husband drank, so Kaylene started to drink with him. This is where her story of addiction began.
Learning self-love was a huge step for Kaylene in recovery and her faith ended up helping her in more ways than one.
She came to a realization while working towards sobriety; “I am God’s creation and he has loved me before I was even formed and I have to see myself the way he sees me”. There were some hard days where things seemed too hard or too pointless, but Kaylene preserved. She slowly built up her self-confidence and recognized her worth. Confronting past hurts caused changes that Kaylene could see in herself, supplying further encouragement.
Searching for a place that would provide opportunities for spiritual and professional growth led Kaylene to Unshattered.
She had heard of success stories and was impressed by our vision of ending the addiction relapse cycle. Her desire to learn new things only helped her decision to join us. Prior to recovery, Kaylene couldn’t envision a life different from the one she had always lived. But she’s since realized that there is so much she can do and learn regardless of experience, age, or personal history. We’ve created a safe environment for our women to grow and establish new skills, something Kaylene didn’t have before.
“[Unshattered] taught me what teamwork looks like, what sisterhood looks like, things that I was not familiar with in my past. It just shows me that people can really be for you and not just out to get something from you.”
Keeping an open mind and following her faith brought Kaylene to our doors and has continued to enforce the idea that you’re never too old to change, try something new, or persevere. In the past, Kaylene got into the habit of running away when things got hard but has made serious efforts to change that. “I’m proud that I didn’t quit. I just kept grabbing for whatever lifeline I could use to get to the next point.”
Kaylene strives to be an inspiration for anyone that has gone through or is going through addiction. Pushing through when things get hard and maintaining hope even when all seems lost are easier said than done, but, in Kaylene’s experience, it’s the pathway to becoming a success story. Her hope is that people can look to her and her journey and be empowered to make changes in their own lives.