Expansive and Free

“I’ve never looked big a day in my life. No matter. My daughter and I pay attention. We know what the world wants from us. We know we must decide whether to stay small, quiet, and uncomplicated or allow ourselves to grow as big, loud, and complex as we were made to be. Every girl must decide whether to be true to herself or true to the world. Every girl must decide whether to settle for adoration or fight for love.

There on the bed, in her pigtails and pain, my daughter was me – the little girl I once was, the woman I am now, still struggling to answer the questions: How can I be expansive and free and still be loved? Am I going to be a lady or am I going to be fully human? Do I trust the unfolding and continue to grow, or do I shut all of this down so I fit?”

• – Glennon Doyle, Love Warrior

 

Racheal understands this all too well. After battling against anorexia for years, Racheal found herself in the hospital after her disease nearly killed her last fall. Having been in and out of the hospital 28 times over four years, she has never had the opportunity to truly get the help that she needs to fully heal. Racheal and her family were terrified that this time if she was released from the hospital and sent home, she would not have the support or help that she would need to continue on her healing journey.

 

What Racheal needed was to be sent to a transitional facility to continue her work before being thrown out to the world without the tools to survive. Because insurance will not cover that portion of treatment, her loved ones were afraid of what the future would hold for her.

 

Her mother wrote to us, “I am a stay at home Mom with 3 other children. I want to help but its just not even close to enough. As long as Racheal is ravaged by this disease she will never live a normal life….I am terrified if she comes home too soon she will die.”

 

Racheal also understands the gravity of the situation. She wrote to us, “If I was able to get the money for the treatment I need and not have to worry about insurance it would give me some hope for the future! I would be able to work the program the way it was intended. I would be able to stay in the program as long as I needed. I want to become a strong independent person who actually has a purpose.”

 

Accepting that you need help and being willing to accept the help and do the work are difficult and painful steps. There shouldn’t be the additional stress of knowing you cannot afford access to it. Your generous donations paid for two months of transitional housing for Racheal to get the help she so critically needs.

 

Racheal, we are honored to help enable you to focus on your healing and run towards your purpose.

 

If you’d like to donate to the healing, uplifting work of Together Rising, please go to: https://togetherrising.org/give/.