I’m thrilled to participate in a sweepstakes sponsored by Investigation Discovery’s new series Surviving Evil, which premieres Wednesday August 28th at 10/9c only on Investigation Discovery
I have always known I would do something special. As a child I would daydream about big things to come and in looking back – it appears my early intuition was on the mark.
Having worked since I was 15-years-old, I’ve always tried to embrace each new opportunity as if it were my own business – though the majority of them definitely were not.
While many of my friends were headed off to college, it wasn’t on my radar for a number of reason. Like many older teens in the St. Croix Valley where I grew up, we all worked summers at a high end window manufacturing facility that was family oriented, hiring sons and daughters of employees as a first priority.
While the money was excellent, it didn’t appeal to me as a life-long career option. I went on to work in a salon, dabbled in retail and managed a golf course kitchen and bar in the ensuing years.
Fast forward 15 years…
On January 28, 2006 I entered Hazelden rehab center to seek help for an addiction to alcohol that had finally gotten the best of me. I have taken on sobriety much differently than most … I do not go to AA or “work a program” per say. When I walked out the doors after 28 days I knew I would never go back. This was a one-time deal. Seven years down the road … I can see my life far more clearly and realize that I have most definitely walked the talk.
My first real test of willpower came a mere 2 weeks after I left rehab, when my husband became ill with a blood clot in his head. This turned into a two year medical struggle that left me seriously wondering if my husband would be around to see our beautiful daughter grow up.
As a result of his prolonged illness, Lee is not able to work outside of the home. Suddenly becoming the primary breadwinner and backbone of the family seemed like a daunting task. Suffice it to say, had I still been drinking we’d have all been in a major world of hurt.
In August, 2007, I came in contact via the internet with a woman who would change my path. Andrea asked me to be a writer for a new celebrity gossip blog that she had recently started. Although she could not pay me, she said that she would teach me how to start my own blog. Thinking I had nothing to lose, I began writing that very day.
Two days later she asked me to be her business partner and the journey began in earnest. Within 3 months time we were ranked by Google and starting to make money. Who knew? By January 2009 we were earning enough that I made the bold decision to quit my full-time job and begin working on the site full time. Boy, did we work! Sixteen hour days were not uncommon and we wrote like demons on the weekends too.
It has been six years since I took that leap of faith. The good news is that thanks to social media, pop culture continues to delight our readers. Make no mistake, there have been many ups and downs associated with owning a business but at the end of the day, it has been a challenge that has provided some excellent opportunities for growth.
My daughter will become an official teen in a few short weeks and my mantra for her continues to be: ‘You can be anything you set your mind to be. Dream big, Mommy loves you. You are wonderful just the way you are. Be a strong woman, Chloe.’
Throughout my sobriety journey I continually feel an obligation to offer encouragement to others to follow their dreams in order to find their own success and fulfillment. Life is good. Amen.
What is an obstacle or fear that you’ve been able to overcome? Tell us below and be automatically entered to win a $500 SpaFinder gift card!
This sweepstakes is sponsored by Investigation Discovery’s new series Surviving Evil, premiering Wednesday, August 28 at 10/9c. Told in their own words, victims reveal how they fought their attackers and survived against amazing odds. Learn more at InvestigationDiscovery.com/SurvivingEvil and empower yourself with five life-saving tips at IDFiveToSurvive.com.
Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 8/14/13-8/28/13.
Be sure to visit the Investigation Discovery: Surviving Evil brand pageon BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ true stories of courage and survival and find more chances to win.