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

Adriene’s story moves from a childhood of instability and abuse to the discovery of hope through books, teachers, and unexpected kindness. A spelling bee, a near-adoption, and an exchange year in Germany become lifelines that change her sense of belonging.

Adulthood brings its own trials—addiction, loss, and rebuilding from rock bottom. On November 8, 2005, she chose sobriety and motherhood, rewriting her story one small step at a time.

Now, financial advisor Adriene Caldwell is also the author of Unbroken: Life Outside the Lines. Adrian offers her hard-won wisdom to anyone still walking through the dark. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and spirited 20-year-old daughter, who is currently attending university. Through her work, she shares the message that no matter how broken life may feel, we all carry the strength to heal and live Unbroken.

This episode is for anyone who needs proof that small choices can build a new life, and that hope can start anywhere.

Let's enjoy her story.

https://www.unbrokencaldwell.com/

Chapters

• 0:27 Why Adrian Wrote Her Memoir
• 2:34 On Trauma, Resilience, Not Comparing Pain
• 4:17 Childhood, Schizophrenia, Family Fractures
• 8:58 Homeless Shelter to Ghetto Housing
• 11:01 School as Refuge and Lifeline
• 13:05 Sacrifice, Adoption Attempt, Class Shock
• 17:21 Foster Care Abuse and Lasting Scars
• 23:42 A Lifeline: Exchange Year in Germany
• 28:04 Returning Home, Early Independence
• 30:06 College, 9/11, Addiction Spiral
• 32:21 Seattle Reset, Marriage, Motherhood
• 35:05 Sobriety, Career, Loss, Health
• 38:10 Mother–Daughter, Pride, and Growth

Transcript

Daniela SM: 0:00

Sometimes survival isn't allowed. It is the quiet act of choosing hope, one small step at a time. I'm Daniela and welcome to my podcast because everyone has a story. A space where ordinary people like you and me share our extraordinary journeys. Here for stories become the language of connection. Let's listen, reflect, and relate. Because everyone has a story. My guest today is Adriene Caldwell, author of the Unbroken Life Outside the Lines. Her memoir is a powerful story of surviving trauma and finding hope again. Adriene's journey from chaos to clarity reminds us that even when life feels broken, we can still find the strength to keep going. Let's enjoy her story. Adrian, thank you so much and welcome to the show.

Adrene Caldwell: 0:53

Thank you very much for having me. It's a privilege to be here.

Daniela SM: 0:57

Tell us where you are located at the moment.

Adrene Caldwell: 0:59

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

Daniela SM: 1:19

Oh wow. Well, I'm glad I asked you that question. You have been to many places. So that's wonderful. And I know you have a story. You have written a book, and your story has a lot of pieces with it. Can you let us know why you want to share your story? Sure.

Adrene Caldwell: 1:34

The name of my book is Unbroken Life Outside the Lines. I have written this book to be inspiration or a beacon of light at the end of the tunnel for anyone who is or who has struggled in life. For people who are in difficult situations, they are becoming hopeless and dejected. I want them to see that, okay, if she can go through that, and by that I mean I've either been the witness to or the victim of the sexual assault of a young girl, the drowning death of a child, emotional and physical abuse, extreme poverty, mental illness, homelessness, horrifically abusive foster care, bulimia, drug and alcohol addiction, pedophilia, death, suicide, and even incest. If they can see that, okay, she has gone through all of that and she has made it to the other side, then so can I.

Daniela SM: 2:51

Yes, that definitely is. And thank you so much for sharing all that. Adrian, have you met other people that have gone through half of what you have gone through and noticed that perhaps they don't have the same resilience to be as successful as you are now, despite all that happened to you?

Adrene Caldwell: 3:08

I never compare traumas. There's no point in comparing. Every person's trauma is unique and tragic and difficult for that person. I do see people who are stuck. It's like they're trapped in cement. They're being held prisoner by their trauma. They're not able to grow past the 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 through really bad things and come out the other side. You don't have to stay stuck in it.

Daniela SM: 3:59

Yes. Well, I appreciate that you say that we shouldn't compare traumas. You know, it's not what happened to you, it's what happens inside you. And so for that reason, it's true, we can really compare. So I appreciate you pointing that out. And and so tell me, Adrian, when does your story start?

Adrene Caldwell: 4:17

My story starts basically from the time I was born. My mother, she had me when she was 19. She was beginning to develop schizophrenia. It's in my family. My grandfather was schizophrenic. My mother, uh, as I was getting older, she was getting worse and worse. Not sure if you're aware, but schizophrenia doesn't it it doesn't start in early years or adolescence or even really the teenage years. It's late teens, early twenties. That's when it's developing. A little background information. My grandfather moved the family to Houston and then promptly abandoned the family to go be with this woman whom he had promised. You know, he said, Let me get my 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 were four children, they all had to work. And my grandmother watched me. And my grandmother was my guardian, she was my shield, she protected me from my mother and from my mother's craziness. Like one time, my my mom decided that I needed to eat beans with every single meal breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And my grandmother put a stop to it. So my grandmother really protected me and and kept me sheltered, but that was only until the age of seven because she passed away. So I lost my guardian. It just went downhill from there.

Daniela SM: 6:06

And so you stay with your mom, even though she was diagnosed or nobody was helping her?

Adrene Caldwell: 6:11

She was not officially diagnosed until much, much later in life. In fact, my family doesn't even believe in mental illness. It blows my mind that they don't believe in it, but they don't. She had me at 19. She she wasn't able to go to school. She she had originally wanted to be a nurse, but that didn't work out. She got pregnant and had me instead. So she could never have a job that where we could really afford to live on our own. So when we rotated, remember how I mentioned the four siblings? Yes. Her brother met and eventually married my Aunt Rose. So that's Aunt Rose and Uncle John. And then her sister, Mary Lynn, Aunt Lynn, she met and married Uncle Luke. So we would rotate living with either of them. One time my mom tried to get us an apartment and live on our own, but we had no furniture. And I mean no furniture, not even a mattress on the floor. It was untenable. My mother, not only was she schizophrenic, she was physically abusive. She beat me. She beat me with shoes, hangers. One time it was a dog leash. The very last beating was with a wooden dowel rod. In your closet, the thing you hang your clothes on, that wooden rod.

Daniela SM: 7:46

Oh my gosh.

Adrene Caldwell: 7:47

That's what she beat me with. Every time she would beat me, one of my aunts would step in, and then with my grandmother gone, the oldest son, Uncle John, became the patriarch of the family. And so he would go to my mother and say, you know, you, Marigold, you cannot beat her. You can't do this. So it would stop for a little while, but it would pick right back up a month or two later. It was just a cycle over and over. My mother got tired of having the family intervene. She wanted to be able to do whatever she wanted without having to account for her behavior to anyone else. So she went to social services and said, What do I have to do to get an apartment on my own, like a government subsidized apartment? And they said, Well, you're living with family, so you don't need an apartment as much as the women and children in the homeless shelter. So we actually moved to a homeless shelter. It was the summer after fourth grade. And we were homeless for that entire summer, about a week before school was supposed to start. We were given an apartment in the ghetto. I mean, if if you Google the name Haverstock Hill Apartments, you'll see that there are, you know, drug deals and murders. The reviews say, you know, if you 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 her brothers.

Daniela SM: 9:39

And then she had time to beat you more, or it didn't happen as much anymore?

Adrene Caldwell: 9:44

Oh no, it continued. It continued. My family, they they didn't come visit in the two years that we were there. I think I saw them maybe three or four times. She was on on her own. She was free of them. I try not to hold it against them that they didn't come and check on my brother and me. My my mom had my brother when I was 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 so lonely and unsupported. It must have been really hard. Absolutely. Absolutely. And in school, the teachers supported you? Do you feel that you had some somebody that you could talk to or something?

Adrene Caldwell: 10:36

So school was my refuge. I would check out a book from the library one morning, and by the next morning, I would have read it, finished it, and would be checking out a new one. If it took me two days to read a book, that that was a really long book. And in school, I was always the teacher's pet. In school, I knew how to behave. I knew what was expected of me, and I excelled. And I remember my mom stopping and looking at me just very seriously. And she said, Adrian, school is the way out of this life. And by this life, she was referring to living in the ghetto, living, living in, you know, a government subsidized apartment. She said, A's will get you out of this. I thrived in school. Um a happy story. I was the winner of the elementary school spelling bee. Oh, wow. I went on to the district competition. I was a fifth grader. I came in second place to an eighth grader. I didn't know how to spell mozzarella.

Daniela SM: 12:00

And I bet you're never gonna forget how to spell the mozzarella.

Adrene Caldwell: 12:05

You're exactly right. You're exactly right. And what was really cool was my mom asked me, she said, what would you like as a reward for for doing so well? And I I said, I would like to get my ears pierced for the second pole. You know, that was rebellious and you know, woo. 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 supporting and she wanted you to study and do good in school. And then, you know, you had the beatings and the you know, crazy behavior that it was due to her mental illness that she wouldn't recognize. Correct?

Adrene Caldwell: 12:48

Yes, yes, you're you are correct. I knew that she loved me. It wasn't until I became a mother myself that I realized what a sacrifice she made. When she relinquished her parental rights, she was giving us to a family. They were supposed to adopt my brother and me. I had become best friends with the girl in sixth grade. My mother gave up her rights so that my best friend's family could adopt my brother and me. They were upper middle class. She did it so that we could have a better chance in life. And they ended up keeping my brother and adopting him, for which I am incredibly grateful. But I was 13 years old. I had never been to a restaurant where a waiter takes your order. The the highest restaurant I had ever been to was like Luby's. It's a cafeteria, like buffet style restaurant. So my my apartment in in Haverstock Hill, the government apartment, my mother had a dresser in her room. My brother and I had a mattress on our floor, and then in the living room, we had an egg crate and a 12-inch black and white TV and dishes, uh, you know, a few plates and and bowls and you know, forks and knives. But that was it. My best friend's family, they were upper middle class, they had this gorgeous house with an extra bedroom. Now, my entire life, I had shared a bed with someone. Uh early on, it was my grandmother, mother, and me in one bed. And then when we were homeless, uh, we would push the twin beds together, and it would be my mother, brother, and me. And then in the government apartment, my brother and I shared a mattress. So I went from having shared my bed my entire life to them having a guest room, just this empty bedroom that's furnished, just in case somebody decides that they might like to come visit and stay over. I mean, that blew my mind, the idea of just having an extra bedroom. And, you know, the kids each had their own bathrooms and luxury cars, and they saw me as aloof, and they thought that I was being snobby and ungrateful. And what they didn't realize was I didn't know how to behave in their environment. I had never been around anything like that in my entire life. School, I knew how to behave, I knew the structure, I knew the rules. Here, I had no idea. My best friend, her two brothers, had a nickname for me that I think was very cruel. They called me the ice queen because I was so standoffish, but I was standoffish because I didn't know what to say or how to interact with them.

Daniela SM: 16:15

I I had no idea. So you didn't adapt easily and it was difficult. I see. What a good uh point that you're making. We wouldn't have understood. But and you also you didn't know how to express what you were feeling. Exactly.

Adrene Caldwell: 16:29

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 many abandonment issues and the beatings, just emotionally, I wasn't prepared. And and I thought that going to a foster home would be better than staying with Aunt Rose and Uncle John. And that was the worst mistake of my life.

Daniela SM: 16:58

And Adrian, I'm curious on how did the family of your best friend decide to adopt you and your brother?

Adrene Caldwell: 17:04

Well, over the course of the previous year, I had been spending weekends with my best friend and her family. They saw my little brother one time, and he was three years old and had just this golden baby blonde hair, and he had the blue eyes, and just he was an angel. And the mother, um, her kids, uh, her daughter was the youngest, she was 13. The the boys were 15 and 17, so she was going through like empty nest. Her children no longer really needed her, and here she sees this angelic little boy who he was severely delayed. He could only say 10 words. So she saw a need, and she was also very self-righteous at her church. She always boasted and bragged that that she took in these welfare children and and how great she was for doing it. They kept my brother and she took him to therapy. I give her full credit. My brother would not be where he is today. But at the same time, they kicked me out. I I wasn't allowed to stay in their upper middle class life. And for me, it it was another abandonment. Even though I didn't want to see my mother when she gave up her rights, even though I refused and I was getting away from her, it was still an abandonment. My mother left me, and then my best friend's family got rid of me, they didn't want me. And then my Aunt Rose and Uncle John, they had a toddler, and the toddler would just hit me, and they would never intervene, they would never punish him, and I just I couldn't take it. Before I was allowed to move in with my best friend's family, you know, while CPS was doing the home study and doing all their questions and interview, I had lived with my brother in a foster home. The people were nice and lovely and had a decent home, and and it was a it was a good experience. And that's what I thought foster care was gonna be like. I could not have been more wrong. I I'll explain it this way: my my schizophrenic, physically abusive mother, I've never had a nightmare about her. My foster parent, the woman, the bitch from hell, TBFH, the bitch from hell. I've had nightmares about her where I wake up crying as recently as a year ago. I am still traumatized by what she did. And her abuse wasn't physical or sexual, it was emotional. We were treated less than human. We weren't allowed to sit on the furniture. We had to sit on the floor like dogs. We didn't eat the same food as them. They had steak and avocados, and we had tuna casserole and hamburger helper. They they had separate dishes. The foster girls had the master bedroom and we had an alarm on our door that was turned on at night. So we couldn't leave the bedroom to go get a glass of water. There was an actual alarm on our door. The master bedroom had a sink and a toilet attached to it, and there was one full bathroom in the entire house. Um, so it had the shower, toilet, and sink. We were not allowed to use their toilet. We could not use their toilet. And the last foster girl to bathe to take a shower, she had to clean the tub with Comet, a bleach detergent, before the foster family would use it. And she TBFH would always use the excuse that it was for her granddaughter, making sure that the tub was clean. That was a lie. None of them would use it until it had been cleaned. I mean, she ingrained inferiority into us. I was trying on a swimsuit one time, and I came out to show her, and she looked at me and she said, Wow, your thighs are fat. I'm surprised you haven't started throwing up so that you can lose weight. And that comment has started a 30-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 feel how you're feeling. Like it's of course it it affects anybody. Emotional, I think emotional abuse is is is worse than any of the others. There were more than one foster kid with you? Oh yes. Uh there were between four and six of us at a time. And there was no checkup, like nobody comes and check, and you wouldn't be able to complain or say anything?

Adrene Caldwell: 22:32

First of all, there was no place for me to go. Um, there were no other foster families. And if I were if I had left, I would have gone to a girl's shelter. And having already lived in a homeless shelter, I knew what shelter life was like. My CPS caseworker would come every, you know, six weeks or two months. If you're gonna complain about the person that you live with, they're going to go talk to TBFH. They leave, and TBFH stays, and you're stuck there with her. I had it better than most girls. My Aunt Rose would would drive like 30 miles each way. She would come and get me every other weekend, and I would stay with her and I would clean her beauty shop. And the family that adopted my brother, 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 after challenge. We're in this foster care until what age? Until 15.

Adrene Caldwell: 23:42

And I received a congressional scholarship to do a one-year foreign exchange to Germany. Thousands of American students apply for it. Only 300 are selected. It's basically an ambassadorship program. Um, Americans go over to Germany, Germans come over to America. First, we spent a month in language camp. They rented out a youth hostel, and then I went to live with my host family, and they were absolutely amazing. They changed the trajectory of my life. I would not be where I am today were it not for them. I cut my hair, I lost 30 pounds, I got my belly button pierced, they treated me like an adult. They had a five-year-old, and I would babysit, take her to the zoo and to the beach. They respected me. I actually spoke with my host mom last week. I send her flowers for Christmas. That was the first time that I had seen a functional family and where I really felt like I fit in. Now the exchange was hard as hell. My host mom spoke fluent English. And after three weeks, she said, okay, we're done with English. Now we speak German, only German. And if I didn't understand something, she explained it in German. And I went to, yeah, I went to gymnasium, which is an upper level high school. It's high school for students who are gonna go on to university. I I went with basically one year of German. Basically, I could say, hi, my name is, I knew the alphabet and I could count. That that was the extent of my German. And by the end of it, two things I'm so proud of. I got the highest grade on a math test uh in in school, and the teacher was standing up at the front and she was like, guys, the foreign exchange student got the highest grade. What's going on here? And because I never spoke German in front of a group, I would speak one-on-one. I I was too shy to speak in front of a group. None of my teachers knew that I had learned, that I had become fluent. Oh, I see. And then my second, probably my proudest moment, I was at the airport, we were going home, we were in line, I was talking to uh an immigration guy, just casual banter back and forth. And then I handed him my passport and he looked at me and he said, You're American, you're not German. And I was like, I made it, I did it. I am fluent without an American accent. That's wonderful. And where were you in Germany? Um North Germany, as north as you can get. Uh, I was on the North Sea. I lived in a little town outside of Bremerhofen.

Daniela SM: 26:56

Yes, I am glad that these good things happened to you. You know, for me, I was living in South America, going to Germany, it was too of a shock as 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?

Adrene Caldwell: 27:12

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 were in your gymnasium, which is true, not everybody gets there. You this you you did so 16, you were from 15 to 16 there.

Adrene Caldwell: 27:36

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 with Aunt Rose and Uncle John. That was hard because I was used to my freedom being able to do what I wanted when I wanted. Because as you know, in Germany, in 16, you're an adult. And Aunt Rose and Uncle John still treated me like an adolescent, like a teenager. It was very difficult. And I also had a relationship with a man. It was a very inappropriate relationship, but I did end up getting my own apartment, my second semester of my senior year of high school. Okay. And then what happened after that? So when your parent gives up right, and the the state becomes your guardian, in most US states, you can go to any public state university or college, and they waive the tuition and fees. So I was able to go to college and 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 for the application, and then I would type the application and I would mail it back. And I ended up getting a few very prestigious scholarships. I got very close with that teacher. And one day I came in and she just wasn't looking well. And six weeks later, she was she had passed. She had cancer and it just progressed so quickly. And I had asked if I could come visit her in the hospital, and she said no, because she didn't want me to see her like that. But the computers that were in her classroom were her own computers. Her husband was an Exxon executive. So she taught for out of the love and passion for teaching. She was also the hardest teacher I had ever had. And you were right. I I I am intelligent and I do excel in those areas. Common sense, street smarts, not so much. But she told her husband before she passed. To make sure and give me one of those computers so that I would have a computer when I went to college. It was so touching. And at her memorial service, everyone expected me to talk because she and I were so close. But I I can't share my emotions in a group. And and later, book number two, I don't cover this in book number one, but I was actually widowed at the age of 35 at my husband's memorial service. Everyone expected me to talk, and I just I can't share my feelings in a group setting. One-on-one like this, yes, I I can talk. Interesting.

Daniela SM: 30:42

Wow. Well, it seems like apart for all the not so good things that happened to you, that you did have some kind of angels that help you to support you, that changed that little thing. Instead of going that way, you went this way. Exactly. Exactly.

Adrene Caldwell: 30:58

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

Daniela SM: 31:14

You come back going to college now with two languages, excellent at math, and and what happened then?

Adrene Caldwell: 31:22

Well, uh, so I studied international business, so I knew a little accounting, a little finance, a little communications, a little of this, a little of that. But I I wasn't an accountant, like I had no real skill. I just knew a little bit about a bunch of different business things. So I walked the stage in August of 01. Um that's that's when I graduated, and then 9-11 happened, and there were no international jobs whatsoever. By this time, I was also struggling with alcoholism, was 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 find one new, a better one, I would go move in with him, and I did that. Basically, I had to get out of Houston, I needed to get away from the people that I was around, and I went to Seattle uh to be a nanny, and I ended up meeting a guy. He was he was from England, he was on vacation, he had finished university and sold his house, and he was touring the US. So we knew each other four weeks. He went home for two weeks, came back, and I said, Well, you need to find yourself a nice American girl and get married. And he said, Well, so do you wanna? Okay. So just to be abundantly clear, I married him so that he could get a green card and we could keep dating. Now, what we were not planning on was our wedding present. The weekend that we got married, we concede. I got pregnant with our daughter. I didn't think I could have children. That started the next chapter of my life. That's the beginning of book two. And is this the husband the past? Yeah, my daughter was 10 years old when he passed. Seattle, I didn't know anybody. It was a blank slate, it was a fresh start. I went there and I actually stopped drinking. Him being from England, you know, they they go to pubs, they drink, it's no big deal. He encouraged me, and so I started drinking, and that's when he realized how what a mistake it was. Because all the pain, all the rage, the anger, the hurt, everything that I shoved so deep down inside of me, it's like when I drink, that all comes out. All that rage and anger and pain. It it just is like I don't have a filter anymore. And it just explodes. So once I got sober again, my my sobriety date is November 8th, 2005. When my daughter was first born, uh his parents came over and I told him the to to just take her and go with his parents and just leave me because I couldn't raise her. I I didn't think I could do it. On November 8th, I woke up on the bathroom floor mat. That was the date that I decided that I could do it. I could raise my daughter and I would do whatever it took to get straight, to get my life in order. And I did. I became a financial advisor, uh, I became a certified financial planner. I had a career. Life threw me some more curveballs, in addition to being widowed, uh, a significant health issue. Like I said, I I want to save that for book two for the next time we talk.

Daniela SM: 35:24

Yes, of course. Well, it is fascinating that uh you could actually control this. So I want to stop doing this and I'm gonna stop doing it, and I'm going to raise my daughter and I'm going to do it. Yes, it is incredible, inspiring that uh you have that power within you to shove it everything down and to control things. Uh, and of course, I can assume that uh because you've been keeping things inside, that's why you you your body now is keeping score. I think you're right.

Adrene Caldwell: 35:54

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

Daniela SM: 36:19

Uh-huh.

Adrene Caldwell: 36:20

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

Daniela SM: 36:28

And I'm sure that you are a great mom.

Adrene Caldwell: 36:31

I've tried very hard. I've not been perfect. Like she's becoming a remarkable 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?

Adrene Caldwell: 36:47

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 a second book that we I will be happy and honored if you want to come back and and tell me more about your story because I think obviously it's not ending, and you have more wonderful things happening to you. So is anything else that you would like to share that uh perhaps we we're we're missing?

Adrene Caldwell: 37:43

Just for anybody out there who's struggling, who's going through difficult times, I would just like to share the message. The can get better, it will get better. Do not give up hope. Just just take just take a step. Just take a step and and start stepping out of your situation. You can get away from from the trauma and the badness. It's not forever, it's not permanent. You can make the decision to how 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 the power to others by blaming or not taking responsibility. But it's true, we do have the power sometimes. It's harder for some people, but yes, you did it, and you have a beautiful story to continue to share with everyone. Thank you so much.

Adrene Caldwell: 38:38

It has been such a privilege being on your podcast with you, and I have thoroughly 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 that feeling isn't about erasing the past, but about learning to live fully beyond it. One quiet, courageous step at a time. If this spoke to you, please leave a comment and share it with someone who could get a gentle reminder to live fully beyond their own story so that a little ordinary magic can spread just a bit further. Join me next time for another story conversation. Thank you for listening. Hasta pronto.