Unbroken – Life Outside the Lines: Finding Strength in the Unscripted - Adriene Caldwell : 170 - BECAUSE EVERYONE HAS A STORY "BEHAS"

Episode Transcript
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Daniela SM (00:00):
Sometimes survival isn't allowed.
It is the quiet act of choosinghope, one small step at a time.
I'm Daniela and welcome to mypodcast because everyone has a
story.
A space where ordinary peoplelike you and me share our
extraordinary journeys.
Here for stories become thelanguage of connection.

(00:22):
Let's listen, reflect, andrelate.
Because everyone has a story.
My guest today is AdrieneCaldwell, author of the Unbroken
Life Outside the Lines.
Her memoir is a powerful storyof surviving trauma and finding
hope again.
Adriene's journey from chaos toclarity reminds us that even

(00:44):
when life feels broken, we canstill find the strength to keep
going.
Let's enjoy her story.
Adrian, thank you so much andwelcome to the show.

Adrene Caldwell (00:53):
Thank you very much for having me.
It's a privilege to be here.

Daniela SM (00:57):
Tell us where you are located at the moment.

I have been raised and am now living in
Houston, Texas.
But I spent a couple years inSeattle, a year in Anchorage, a
year and a half in Germany.
I did a foreign exchange.
So I've done a fair bit oftraveling and living abroad.
I haven't only been in Houston.

Daniela SM (01:19):
Oh wow.
Well, I'm glad I asked you thatquestion.
You have been to many places.
So that's wonderful.
And I know you have a story.
You have written a book, andyour story has a lot of pieces
with it.
Can you let us know why youwant to share your story?
Sure.

The name of my book is Unbroken Life Outside
the Lines.
I have written this book to beinspiration or a beacon of light
at the end of the tunnel foranyone who is or who has
struggled in life.
For people who are in difficultsituations, they are becoming

(02:00):
hopeless and dejected.
I want them to see that, okay,if she can go through that, and
by that I mean I've either beenthe witness to or the victim of
the sexual assault of a younggirl, the drowning death of a
child, emotional and physicalabuse, extreme poverty, mental

(02:25):
illness, homelessness,horrifically abusive foster
care, bulimia, drug and alcoholaddiction, pedophilia, death,
suicide, and even incest.
If they can see that, okay, shehas gone through all of that
and she has made it to the otherside, then so can I.

Daniela SM (02:51):
Yes, that definitely is.
And thank you so much forsharing all that.
Adrian, have you met otherpeople that have gone through
half of what you have gonethrough and noticed that perhaps
they don't have the sameresilience to be as successful
as you are now, despite all thathappened to you?

I never compare traumas.
There's no point in comparing.
Every person's trauma is uniqueand tragic and difficult for
that person.
I do see people who are stuck.
It's like they're trapped incement.
They're being held prisoner bytheir trauma.

(03:36):
They're not able to grow pastthe trauma.
Yes, I I have seen people.
It's disheartening.
And hopefully with the book,they'll be able to see that
okay, you you can go throughreally bad things and come out
the other side.
You don't have to stay stuck init.

Daniela SM (03:59):
Yes.
Well, I appreciate that you saythat we shouldn't compare
traumas.
You know, it's not whathappened to you, it's what
happens inside you.
And so for that reason, it'strue, we can really compare.
So I appreciate you pointingthat out.
And and so tell me, Adrian,when does your story start?

My story starts basically from the time I was
born.
My mother, she had me when shewas 19.
She was beginning to developschizophrenia.
It's in my family.
My grandfather wasschizophrenic.
My mother, uh, as I was gettingolder, she was getting worse

(04:40):
and worse.
Not sure if you're aware, butschizophrenia doesn't it it
doesn't start in early years oradolescence or even really the
teenage years.
It's late teens, earlytwenties.
That's when it's developing.
A little backgroundinformation.
My grandfather moved the familyto Houston and then promptly

(05:04):
abandoned the family to go bewith this woman whom he had
promised.
You know, he said, Let me getmy kids raised, and then I will
leave them for you.
And that's exactly what he did.
So we were stranded in Houston.
All of the kids, there werefour children, they all had to
work.
And my grandmother watched me.

(05:27):
And my grandmother was myguardian, she was my shield, she
protected me from my mother andfrom my mother's craziness.
Like one time, my my momdecided that I needed to eat
beans with every single mealbreakfast, lunch, and dinner.
And my grandmother put a stopto it.

(05:49):
So my grandmother reallyprotected me and and kept me
sheltered, but that was onlyuntil the age of seven because
she passed away.
So I lost my guardian.
It just went downhill fromthere.

Daniela SM (06:06):
And so you stay with your mom, even though she was
diagnosed or nobody was helpingher?

She was not officially diagnosed until much,
much later in life.
In fact, my family doesn't evenbelieve in mental illness.
It blows my mind that theydon't believe in it, but they
don't.
She had me at 19.

(06:31):
She she wasn't able to go toschool.
She she had originally wantedto be a nurse, but that didn't
work out.
She got pregnant and had meinstead.
So she could never have a jobthat where we could really
afford to live on our own.
So when we rotated, rememberhow I mentioned the four

(06:52):
siblings?
Yes.
Her brother met and eventuallymarried my Aunt Rose.
So that's Aunt Rose and UncleJohn.
And then her sister, Mary Lynn,Aunt Lynn, she met and married
Uncle Luke.
So we would rotate living witheither of them.

(07:13):
One time my mom tried to get usan apartment and live on our
own, but we had no furniture.
And I mean no furniture, noteven a mattress on the floor.
It was untenable.
My mother, not only was sheschizophrenic, she was
physically abusive.
She beat me.
She beat me with shoes,hangers.

(07:34):
One time it was a dog leash.
The very last beating was witha wooden dowel rod.
In your closet, the thing youhang your clothes on, that
wooden rod.

Daniela SM (07:46):
Oh my gosh.

That's what she beat me with.
Every time she would beat me,one of my aunts would step in,
and then with my grandmothergone, the oldest son, Uncle
John, became the patriarch ofthe family.
And so he would go to my motherand say, you know, you,

(08:08):
Marigold, you cannot beat her.
You can't do this.
So it would stop for a littlewhile, but it would pick right
back up a month or two later.
It was just a cycle over andover.
My mother got tired of havingthe family intervene.
She wanted to be able to dowhatever she wanted without

(08:33):
having to account for herbehavior to anyone else.
So she went to social servicesand said, What do I have to do
to get an apartment on my own,like a government subsidized
apartment?
And they said, Well, you'reliving with family, so you don't
need an apartment as much asthe women and children in the

(08:57):
homeless shelter.
So we actually moved to ahomeless shelter.
It was the summer after fourthgrade.
And we were homeless for thatentire summer, about a week
before school was supposed tostart.
We were given an apartment inthe ghetto.
I mean, if if you Google thename Haverstock Hill Apartments,

(09:21):
you'll see that there are, youknow, drug deals and murders.
The reviews say, you know, ifyou mind your own business,
you'll be fine.
It was horrific.
But my mom got what she wanted,which was independence from
her, from her sister and herbrothers.

Daniela SM (09:39):
And then she had time to beat you more, or it
didn't happen as much anymore?

Oh no, it continued.
It continued.
My family, they they didn'tcome visit in the two years that
we were there.
I think I saw them maybe threeor four times.
She was on on her own.
She was free of them.
I try not to hold it againstthem that they didn't come and

(10:06):
check on my brother and me.
My my mom had my brother when Iwas nine years old.
They knew that she wasn't well.
And they knew that she beat me.

Daniela SM (10:19):
They didn't do anything.
Wow.
And you must have felt solonely and unsupported.
It must have been really hard.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
And in school, the teacherssupported you?
Do you feel that you had somesomebody that you could talk to
or something?

So school was my refuge.
I would check out a book fromthe library one morning, and by
the next morning, I would haveread it, finished it, and would
be checking out a new one.
If it took me two days to reada book, that that was a really
long book.

(10:56):
And in school, I was always theteacher's pet.
In school, I knew how tobehave.
I knew what was expected of me,and I excelled.
And I remember my mom stoppingand looking at me just very
seriously.
And she said, Adrian, school isthe way out of this life.

(11:21):
And by this life, she wasreferring to living in the
ghetto, living, living in, youknow, a government subsidized
apartment.
She said, A's will get you outof this.
I thrived in school.
Um a happy story.
I was the winner of theelementary school spelling bee.

(11:46):
Oh, wow.
I went on to the districtcompetition.
I was a fifth grader.
I came in second place to aneighth grader.
I didn't know how to spellmozzarella.

Daniela SM (12:00):
And I bet you're never gonna forget how to spell
the mozzarella.

You're exactly right.
You're exactly right.
And what was really cool was mymom asked me, she said, what
would you like as a reward forfor doing so well?
And I I said, I would like toget my ears pierced for the
second pole.
You know, that was rebelliousand you know, woo.

(12:26):
And my mom actually said, Yes,that was really nice.

Daniela SM (12:30):
So you did have moments with your mom that they
were okay and she was supportingand she wanted you to study and
do good in school.
And then, you know, you had thebeatings and the you know,
crazy behavior that it was dueto her mental illness that she
wouldn't recognize.
Correct?

Yes, yes, you're you are correct.
I knew that she loved me.
It wasn't until I became amother myself that I realized
what a sacrifice she made.
When she relinquished herparental rights, she was giving
us to a family.
They were supposed to adopt mybrother and me.

(13:11):
I had become best friends withthe girl in sixth grade.
My mother gave up her rights sothat my best friend's family
could adopt my brother and me.
They were upper middle class.
She did it so that we couldhave a better chance in life.
And they ended up keeping mybrother and adopting him, for

(13:35):
which I am incredibly grateful.
But I was 13 years old.
I had never been to arestaurant where a waiter takes
your order.
The the highest restaurant Ihad ever been to was like
Luby's.
It's a cafeteria, like buffetstyle restaurant.
So my my apartment in inHaverstock Hill, the government

(13:59):
apartment, my mother had adresser in her room.
My brother and I had a mattresson our floor, and then in the
living room, we had an egg crateand a 12-inch black and white
TV and dishes, uh, you know, afew plates and and bowls and you
know, forks and knives.

(14:20):
But that was it.
My best friend's family, theywere upper middle class, they
had this gorgeous house with anextra bedroom.
Now, my entire life, I hadshared a bed with someone.
Uh early on, it was mygrandmother, mother, and me in
one bed.
And then when we were homeless,uh, we would push the twin beds

(14:43):
together, and it would be mymother, brother, and me.
And then in the governmentapartment, my brother and I
shared a mattress.
So I went from having shared mybed my entire life to them
having a guest room, just thisempty bedroom that's furnished,

(15:05):
just in case somebody decidesthat they might like to come
visit and stay over.
I mean, that blew my mind, theidea of just having an extra
bedroom.
And, you know, the kids eachhad their own bathrooms and
luxury cars, and they saw me asaloof, and they thought that I

(15:28):
was being snobby and ungrateful.
And what they didn't realizewas I didn't know how to behave
in their environment.
I had never been aroundanything like that in my entire
life.
School, I knew how to behave, Iknew the structure, I knew the

(15:51):
rules.
Here, I had no idea.
My best friend, her twobrothers, had a nickname for me
that I think was very cruel.
They called me the ice queenbecause I was so standoffish,
but I was standoffish because Ididn't know what to say or how

(16:13):
to interact with them.

Daniela SM (16:15):
I I had no idea.
So you didn't adapt easily andit was difficult.
I see.
What a good uh point thatyou're making.
We wouldn't have understood.
But and you also you didn'tknow how to express what you
were feeling.
Exactly.

So they ended up sending me to go live with
Aunt Rose and Uncle John.
That didn't work out.
By then, I had so manyabandonment issues and the
beatings, just emotionally, Iwasn't prepared.
And and I thought that going toa foster home would be better

(16:52):
than staying with Aunt Rose andUncle John.
And that was the worst mistakeof my life.

Daniela SM (16:58):
And Adrian, I'm curious on how did the family of
your best friend decide toadopt you and your brother?

Well, over the course of the previous year, I
had been spending weekends withmy best friend and her family.
They saw my little brother onetime, and he was three years old
and had just this golden babyblonde hair, and he had the blue
eyes, and just he was an angel.

(17:24):
And the mother, um, her kids,uh, her daughter was the
youngest, she was 13.
The the boys were 15 and 17, soshe was going through like
empty nest.
Her children no longer reallyneeded her, and here she sees
this angelic little boy who hewas severely delayed.

(17:49):
He could only say 10 words.
So she saw a need, and she wasalso very self-righteous at her
church.
She always boasted and braggedthat that she took in these
welfare children and and howgreat she was for doing it.

(18:12):
They kept my brother and shetook him to therapy.
I give her full credit.
My brother would not be wherehe is today.
But at the same time, theykicked me out.
I I wasn't allowed to stay intheir upper middle class life.
And for me, it it was anotherabandonment.

(18:33):
Even though I didn't want tosee my mother when she gave up
her rights, even though Irefused and I was getting away
from her, it was still anabandonment.
My mother left me, and then mybest friend's family got rid of
me, they didn't want me.
And then my Aunt Rose and UncleJohn, they had a toddler, and

(18:56):
the toddler would just hit me,and they would never intervene,
they would never punish him, andI just I couldn't take it.
Before I was allowed to move inwith my best friend's family,
you know, while CPS was doingthe home study and doing all
their questions and interview, Ihad lived with my brother in a

(19:19):
foster home.
The people were nice and lovelyand had a decent home, and and
it was a it was a goodexperience.
And that's what I thoughtfoster care was gonna be like.
I could not have been morewrong.

I I'll explain it this way (19:34):
my my schizophrenic, physically
abusive mother, I've never had anightmare about her.
My foster parent, the woman,the bitch from hell, TBFH, the
bitch from hell.
I've had nightmares about herwhere I wake up crying as

(19:55):
recently as a year ago.
I am still traumatized by whatshe did.
And her abuse wasn't physicalor sexual, it was emotional.
We were treated less thanhuman.
We weren't allowed to sit onthe furniture.
We had to sit on the floor likedogs.

(20:18):
We didn't eat the same food asthem.
They had steak and avocados,and we had tuna casserole and
hamburger helper.
They they had separate dishes.
The foster girls had the masterbedroom and we had an alarm on
our door that was turned on atnight.
So we couldn't leave thebedroom to go get a glass of

(20:41):
water.
There was an actual alarm onour door.
The master bedroom had a sinkand a toilet attached to it, and
there was one full bathroom inthe entire house.
Um, so it had the shower,toilet, and sink.
We were not allowed to usetheir toilet.
We could not use their toilet.

(21:02):
And the last foster girl tobathe to take a shower, she had
to clean the tub with Comet, ableach detergent, before the
foster family would use it.
And she TBFH would always usethe excuse that it was for her

(21:22):
granddaughter, making sure thatthe tub was clean.
That was a lie.
None of them would use it untilit had been cleaned.
I mean, she ingrainedinferiority into us.
I was trying on a swimsuit onetime, and I came out to show
her, and she looked at me andshe said, Wow, your thighs are

(21:46):
fat.
I'm surprised you haven'tstarted throwing up so that you
can lose weight.
And that comment has started a30-year battle with bulimia that
continues to this day.
I have still not overcome it.

Daniela SM (22:06):
Wow.
Certainly, certainly is abuse.
And oh my god, I can I can feelhow you're feeling.
Like it's of course it itaffects anybody.
Emotional, I think emotionalabuse is is is worse than any of
the others.
There were more than one fosterkid with you?
Oh yes.
Uh there were between four andsix of us at a time.

(22:26):
And there was no checkup, likenobody comes and check, and you
wouldn't be able to complain orsay anything?

First of all, there was no place for me to go.
Um, there were no other fosterfamilies.
And if I were if I had left, Iwould have gone to a girl's
shelter.
And having already lived in ahomeless shelter, I knew what
shelter life was like.
My CPS caseworker would comeevery, you know, six weeks or

(22:56):
two months.
If you're gonna complain aboutthe person that you live with,
they're going to go talk toTBFH.
They leave, and TBFH stays, andyou're stuck there with her.
I had it better than mostgirls.
My Aunt Rose would would drivelike 30 miles each way.

(23:17):
She would come and get me everyother weekend, and I would stay
with her and I would clean herbeauty shop.
And the family that adopted mybrother, they would come and get
me once a month.
So I got breaks from her.

Daniela SM (23:31):
Definitely, definitely difficulties after
difficulties and challenge afterchallenge.
We're in this foster care untilwhat age?
Until 15.

And I received a congressional scholarship to
do a one-year foreign exchangeto Germany.
Thousands of American studentsapply for it.
Only 300 are selected.
It's basically anambassadorship program.

(24:03):
Um, Americans go over toGermany, Germans come over to
America.
First, we spent a month inlanguage camp.
They rented out a youth hostel,and then I went to live with my
host family, and they wereabsolutely amazing.
They changed the trajectory ofmy life.

(24:24):
I would not be where I am todaywere it not for them.
I cut my hair, I lost 30pounds, I got my belly button
pierced, they treated me like anadult.
They had a five-year-old, and Iwould babysit, take her to the
zoo and to the beach.

(24:45):
They respected me.
I actually spoke with my hostmom last week.
I send her flowers forChristmas.
That was the first time that Ihad seen a functional family and
where I really felt like I fitin.
Now the exchange was hard ashell.

(25:05):
My host mom spoke fluentEnglish.
And after three weeks, shesaid, okay, we're done with
English.
Now we speak German, onlyGerman.
And if I didn't understandsomething, she explained it in
German.
And I went to, yeah, I went togymnasium, which is an upper
level high school.
It's high school for studentswho are gonna go on to

(25:29):
university.
I I went with basically oneyear of German.
Basically, I could say, hi, myname is, I knew the alphabet and
I could count.
That that was the extent of myGerman.
And by the end of it, twothings I'm so proud of.
I got the highest grade on amath test uh in in school, and

(25:51):
the teacher was standing up atthe front and she was like,
guys, the foreign exchangestudent got the highest grade.
What's going on here?
And because I never spokeGerman in front of a group, I
would speak one-on-one.
I I was too shy to speak infront of a group.
None of my teachers knew that Ihad learned, that I had become

(26:13):
fluent.
Oh, I see.
And then my second, probably myproudest moment, I was at the
airport, we were going home, wewere in line, I was talking to
uh an immigration guy, justcasual banter back and forth.
And then I handed him mypassport and he looked at me and

(26:34):
he said, You're American,you're not German.
And I was like, I made it, Idid it.
I am fluent without an Americanaccent.
That's wonderful.
And where were you in Germany?
Um North Germany, as north asyou can get.
Uh, I was on the North Sea.
I lived in a little townoutside of Bremerhofen.

Daniela SM (26:56):
Yes, I am glad that these good things happened to
you.
You know, for me, I was livingin South America, going to
Germany, it was too of a shockas they were so strict and
everything was so cold.
I would go there in the summer,and it's like, oh my god, this
is so where's the sun?

Yes, so you know, you understand the bad
weather and the seafood,everything was fish.
So much fish.

Daniela SM (27:21):
Yes.
Yes.
So a year there, and you werein your gymnasium, which is
true, not everybody gets there.
You this you you did so 16, youwere from 15 to 16 there.

No, I I was 16, and then I came back, and a
month later I turned 17.
What happened after that?
So I went back and lived withAunt Rose and Uncle John.
That was hard because I wasused to my freedom being able to
do what I wanted when I wanted.

(27:56):
Because as you know, inGermany, in 16, you're an adult.
And Aunt Rose and Uncle Johnstill treated me like an
adolescent, like a teenager.
It was very difficult.
And I also had a relationshipwith a man.
It was a very inappropriaterelationship, but I did end up

(28:17):
getting my own apartment, mysecond semester of my senior
year of high school.
Okay.
And then what happened afterthat?
So when your parent gives upright, and the the state becomes
your guardian, in most USstates, you can go to any public
state university or college,and they waive the tuition and

(28:40):
fees.
So I was able to go to collegeand I I spent every morning in a
teacher's classroom.
She had a computer.
I would look up scholarships,and then I would, I would send
them a typed letter asking forthe application, and then I
would type the application and Iwould mail it back.
And I ended up getting a fewvery prestigious scholarships.

(29:06):
I got very close with thatteacher.
And one day I came in and shejust wasn't looking well.
And six weeks later, she wasshe had passed.
She had cancer and it justprogressed so quickly.
And I had asked if I could comevisit her in the hospital, and
she said no, because she didn'twant me to see her like that.

(29:28):
But the computers that were inher classroom were her own
computers.
Her husband was an Exxonexecutive.
So she taught for out of thelove and passion for teaching.
She was also the hardestteacher I had ever had.
And you were right.
I I I am intelligent and I doexcel in those areas.

(29:51):
Common sense, street smarts,not so much.
But she told her husband beforeshe passed.
To make sure and give me one ofthose computers so that I would
have a computer when I went tocollege.
It was so touching.
And at her memorial service,everyone expected me to talk

(30:15):
because she and I were so close.
But I I can't share my emotionsin a group.
And and later, book number two,I don't cover this in book
number one, but I was actuallywidowed at the age of 35 at my
husband's memorial service.
Everyone expected me to talk,and I just I can't share my

(30:37):
feelings in a group setting.
One-on-one like this, yes, I Ican talk.
Interesting.

Daniela SM (30:42):
Wow.
Well, it seems like apart forall the not so good things that
happened to you, that you didhave some kind of angels that
help you to support you, thatchanged that little thing.
Instead of going that way, youwent this way.
Exactly.
Exactly.

I have been through some incredibly
difficult, horrifying things,but I have also been truly,
truly blessed and opportunitiesthat changed my life, changed
the entire trajectory of mylife.

Daniela SM (31:14):
You come back going to college now with two
languages, excellent at math,and and what happened then?

Well, uh, so I studied international business,
so I knew a little accounting, alittle finance, a little
communications, a little ofthis, a little of that.
But I I wasn't an accountant,like I had no real skill.
I just knew a little bit abouta bunch of different business

(31:42):
things.
So I walked the stage in Augustof 01.
Um that's that's when Igraduated, and then 9-11
happened, and there were nointernational jobs whatsoever.
By this time, I was alsostruggling with alcoholism, was

(32:03):
really getting in the way.
And I would move in with men,and I would use them, and I
would trade up when I would findone new, a better one, I would
go move in with him, and I didthat.
Basically, I had to get out ofHouston, I needed to get away

(32:25):
from the people that I wasaround, and I went to Seattle uh
to be a nanny, and I ended upmeeting a guy.
He was he was from England, hewas on vacation, he had finished
university and sold his house,and he was touring the US.

(32:47):
So we knew each other fourweeks.
He went home for two weeks,came back, and I said, Well, you
need to find yourself a niceAmerican girl and get married.
And he said, Well, so do youwanna?
Okay.
So just to be abundantly clear,I married him so that he could
get a green card and we couldkeep dating.

(33:07):
Now, what we were not planningon was our wedding present.
The weekend that we gotmarried, we concede.
I got pregnant with ourdaughter.
I didn't think I could havechildren.
That started the next chapterof my life.
That's the beginning of booktwo.
And is this the husband thepast?
Yeah, my daughter was 10 yearsold when he passed.

(33:31):
Seattle, I didn't know anybody.
It was a blank slate, it was afresh start.
I went there and I actuallystopped drinking.
Him being from England, youknow, they they go to pubs, they
drink, it's no big deal.
He encouraged me, and so Istarted drinking, and that's
when he realized how what amistake it was.

(33:55):
Because all the pain, all therage, the anger, the hurt,
everything that I shoved so deepdown inside of me, it's like
when I drink, that all comesout.
All that rage and anger andpain.
It it just is like I don't havea filter anymore.

(34:17):
And it just explodes.
So once I got sober again, mymy sobriety date is November
8th, 2005.
When my daughter was firstborn, uh his parents came over
and I told him the to to justtake her and go with his parents

(34:39):
and just leave me because Icouldn't raise her.
I I didn't think I could do it.
On November 8th, I woke up onthe bathroom floor mat.
That was the date that Idecided that I could do it.
I could raise my daughter and Iwould do whatever it took to
get straight, to get my life inorder.

(35:02):
And I did.
I became a financial advisor,uh, I became a certified
financial planner.
I had a career.
Life threw me some morecurveballs, in addition to being
widowed, uh, a significanthealth issue.
Like I said, I I want to savethat for book two for the next

(35:23):
time we talk.

Daniela SM (35:24):
Yes, of course.
Well, it is fascinating that uhyou could actually control
this.
So I want to stop doing thisand I'm gonna stop doing it, and
I'm going to raise my daughterand I'm going to do it.
Yes, it is incredible,inspiring that uh you have that
power within you to shove iteverything down and to control

(35:44):
things.
Uh, and of course, I can assumethat uh because you've been
keeping things inside, that'swhy you you your body now is
keeping score.
I think you're right.

I have rheumatoid arthritis.
I think all of the trauma thatI endured during my childhood
and teen years, my my body isrevolting.
All of my trauma hurt my body.
Yes.
And your daughter is now howold?
She is 20 years old.
She is attending university,she wants to be a school

(36:19):
teacher.

Daniela SM (36:19):
Uh-huh.

She's said that since the third grade.
I call her my angel becauseshe's the reason that I got my
act together.
Yes.

Daniela SM (36:28):
And I'm sure that you are a great mom.

I've tried very hard.
I've not been perfect.
Like she's becoming aremarkable young lady.
I'm very proud of her.
And of course, I'm her mother,so of course I would say that.

Daniela SM (36:44):
That's wonderful.
How's your German?

Ah, naja, it's so long ahead that is wirklich
kein Deutsch mehr.
Oh yeah?

Daniela SM (37:14):
Genau, genau.
That's great.
That's great.
It has been a beautiful story,and I really appreciate it.
Now you're smiling.
And so you are going to have asecond book that we I will be
happy and honored if you want tocome back and and tell me more
about your story because I thinkobviously it's not ending, and

(37:36):
you have more wonderful thingshappening to you.
So is anything else that youwould like to share that uh
perhaps we we're we're missing?

Just for anybody out there who's
struggling, who's going throughdifficult times, I would just
like to share the message.
The can get better, it will getbetter.
Do not give up hope.
Just just take just take astep.
Just take a step and and startstepping out of your situation.

(38:05):
You can get away from from thetrauma and the badness.
It's not forever, it's notpermanent.
You can make the decision tohow you want to handle it and
who you want to become.

Daniela SM (38:19):
Exactly.
Yeah, we we do have the power.
Some people want to give thepower to others by blaming or
not taking responsibility.
But it's true, we do have thepower sometimes.
It's harder for some people,but yes, you did it, and you
have a beautiful story tocontinue to share with everyone.
Thank you so much.

It has been such a privilege being on your
podcast with you, and I havethoroughly enjoyed my time with
you.
So thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Thank you.

Daniela SM (38:49):
Thank you.
Adriene's story reminds us thatfeeling isn't about erasing the
past, but about learning tolive fully beyond it.
One quiet, courageous step at atime.
If this spoke to you, pleaseleave a comment and share it
with someone who could get agentle reminder to live fully

(39:10):
beyond their own story so that alittle ordinary magic can
spread just a bit further.
Join me next time for anotherstory conversation.
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.

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Unbroken – Life Outside the Lines: Finding Strength in the Unscripted - Adriene Caldwell : 170

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;} Unbroken – Life Outside the Lines: Finding Strength in the Unscripted - Adriene Caldwell : 170