My Personal Journey from Hopelessness to Happiness

My personal journey title

Ah…the quest for happiness. While happiness cannot be bought, it can be taught 🙂

In fact, I believe happiness MUST be taught to those who call themselves highly sensitive, who are challenged by their negative emotions, or who struggle with addictive behaviors. Why these types of people? Within each of these groups, there is typically a lot of unprocessed emotions.

I should know, because at one point in my life, I was a member of each of the above groups. There was a point in my life where I struggled daily with anxiety and depression. My internal compass was buried underneath layers and layers of pain. Sometimes the pain was so intense, I was suicidal. My belief, at the time, was life would be easier with me not being here, for myself and others. My emotional pain seemed to not just get in my way, but was tiresome for others who had to deal with my sensitivity.

To mask this pain, I turned to alcohol. It wasn’t enough to have a drink. Binge drinking was the only way to temporarily rid myself of my ego’s constant criticism. Of course, my drunken state only gave my ego new ammunition when I sobered up.

hopeless woman with head in hands

I drank to cover up my insecurities of not feeling good enough, unlovable, and undeserving. I drank because I was tired of being sad and anxious all the time. My ego’s standard was perfection, and there was no way my flawed self could ever live up to it. Time and again, I’d try to live up to that standard, only to once again need relief from the gorilla that critiqued my every move. Without hesitation, there the alcohol was, welcoming me. I’d drink to forget, only to wake up hating myself more. The vicious cycle I lived in is what I once called life. Clearly that was not living!

The crazy thing is what saved me were my negative emotions. Yes, you are reading this correctly.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the day after my engagement broke off. Not only was I saddened, I was ashamed. Canceling the wedding venue, dress, and cake were all proof of how unlovable I truly was! That was at least what my gorilla was telling me.

Through Divine grace, a miracle happened.

My anger came in with such force that I finally have the gumption to stand up to that gorilla who had lived on my shoulders for years. For the first time in my life, I actually gave myself internal validation rather than base my worthiness on the external.

Back then, I was an unconscious competent, meaning I didn’t know what I was doing. All I knew was something had changed within me at my core. Little did I know, my life was going to take me on a journey that would teach me and others how to understand the loving force within each of our negative emotions.

My journey has included getting a degree in clinical psychology, life coach training, studying shamanic teachings, practicing EFT, learning energy work and so much more. While each and everyone of the above have benefitted my life, none of them taught me an empowered approach to emotional well-being.

I believe emotional empowerment saved my life and is a benefit – especially to those of us who feel so much. I also believe…
Our relationship with emotions needs a make over!

The standard way we address emotions isn’t working for a good chunk of us, especially women.


Just look at these stats!

9 out of 10 moms are overwhelmed

3 out of 4 women are chronically stressed

Women are twice as likely as men to have anxiety disorders


Through my experience of working with others all over the world to overcome the above difficulties and more, I KNOW we deserve to feel better. Those statistics should not be our norm.

The missing link to our happiness is
an empowered approach to our negative feelings.

If you or someone you know has struggled to find happiness, I invite you to explore more of the articles in this month’s Empowered Living Magazine. I’m sharing the common components that created transformation for those who felt they no hope to become happy. What they needed was a new way to relate to themselves and their feelings. I’ll show you how to do the same!

Michelle Bersell on Beach