tl;dr: I went from miserable and lost to fast-tracking my dream life and it’s because of this community and my own hard work.

I found RPW on accident, coming to this group initially to “prove” that the woman who I had learned of its existence from was [insert any number of negative/disparaging beliefs about someone here]. I was 20something, convinced that my miserable situation was the result of literally anything other than my own actions. I had a horrible view of myself, of other women, of men, of the entire world. I was angry and not willing to take a single step toward changing, I genuinely had begun to resign myself to what I thought life was going to be forever. What I found was shocking and hard to believe… yet I stayed up way too late that night, reading and thinking. And I kept coming back. And it changed everything for me (well, almost everything - I still don’t have any fondness for the woman that got me here, but that’s another story).

Once I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I couldn’t ignore what I had learned here, it was like a lightbulb came on over my head and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I had to take control, and to do that I had to dig in my heels, admit that I was causing every single one of my problems, and get my sh*t together NOW.

I came here every night before bed to read posts and advice and learn what it meant to truly love yourself. I realized my anger at the world and my belief that I was doomed/helpless stemmed from unchecked mental health issues; I went to therapy and really committed to healing, started journaling and doing the hard work of looking for my own flaws and improving them. I looked at my dating history and asked myself why I sought out and accepted “relationships” from men who were, simply put, losers who had no respect for me and why I held the belief that I needed to fix them no matter the cost. I asked myself what I wanted for my life and my future - and I was shocked to realize I had no idea at all. So I took a leap of faith and accepted a perfectly-timed offer from a family member to move across the country and live with them.

In a new place where I knew no one, I laser-focused on myself; I went into nun-mode, joined a gym (and actually went!), found a skincare routine that worked for me, and started to get a clearer picture of what I wanted and what I was determined to get for my future. It wasn’t easy and I made mistakes, but I learned from them and all the work I was doing in myself paid off as I realized I was able to create/enforce boundaries and let myself walk away from anything that didn’t align with my new found goals.

I started this journey at 23 years old. I’m now 25 and since finding RPW and using the tools I took from it, I am the best version of myself that I have ever been. I have never felt more beautiful or comfortable in my own body, my skin is clear and I’ve lost 50lbs (now I’m at the lower end of the healthy BMI and am focusing on toning)! I will finish classes and start my career in April, and I start my first “grown up” job in my field this week - a position that will allow me to learn from people further along than me and give me a huge headstart when school ends. I just bought my first car and am in the process of getting debt-free after years of being financially unstable and irresponsible. And the cherry on top? Along the way I met the most wonderful man who never makes me doubt myself, who loves me and supports me in a way I didn’t know happened outside of fiction, and who fully embodies what it means to be a strong and worthy Captain - and we just started looking at engagement rings.

I’ve been thinking about making this post for weeks, and tonight I was so full of gratitude and pride in how far I’ve come that I finally did it. I couldn’t have done this without the advice, tough love, and support of the RPW community. This post is partially to celebrate myself, but more than that this post is a LOUD and EMPHATIC THANK YOU!!!!! to this community that I cannot mean more sincerely.

If you’ve read this far, I appreciate you. If you’re reading this and you relate - I believe in you. You are worth the effort it takes to create your dream life, and you are in the right place to learn how to do it. :)