On June 3, 2012, my life changed forever. My best friend, Lexi, was in a fatal car accident, and I was in the car with her. We were in the vehicle with four other people when this horrific incident occurred, and I was the only survivor.
Our car went airborne over a set of railroad tracks, slammed into a tree, and landed on its roof in the middle of the road. Three of my friends, including Lexi, died on impact, one was Life Flighted to the hospital and passed shortly after, and I miraculously walked to the ambulance after being taken out of the car by the Jaws of Life.
This car accident was the beginning of my new life. It completely changed me as a person, and shaped me into the woman I am today.
At 17, I had to deal with the trauma of being in a car accident that killed four teenagers, the death of one of my best friends, the attention of the entire city (and more), and all of the anxieties and struggles that came along with it.
For years, I attended counseling session after counseling session, thinking I was “cured” or “over it” after months of talking, just to return months later. I questioned the authenticity of everyone around me. Did they really want to be my friend or did they just want to know what really happened? I faced depositions that required me to recount every moment of the car accident – down to my thoughts after realizing I was trapped in a car with no one around.
I had moments when I thought it would just have been easier if I died in the accident. I was dealing with things that no normal person has to deal with in their lifetime, and I was still just a kid.
Today, it has been almost 8.5 years since the car accident, and I have come such a long way. Through therapy sessions, I have mostly overcome my PTSD – although it does affect me from time to time – and I have truly learned who I am as a person.
I have found things I love, like writing, and I have formed these grand dreams of what I want to be. I am determined to make my life a life worth living, and this blog is just a small part of that.
I still struggle, and that is what I will share on this blog. I struggle with anxiety, panic attacks, immense amounts of pressure I put on myself, body image issues, relationships and everything else a person in today’s world deals with. I want to use my struggles and what I have learned from them to create content that helps you all.
You may not (hell, you probably won’t) resonate with every single thing I write, and that’s okay. As long as I help one person, just once, I have achieved my goal.
Visit a running list of my posts to read anything and everything that you feel you need, and if there is something that you need extra advice on, please don’t hesitate to reach out through my contact page.
With love,
Julia