SoA: Reinvent yourself

 (SoA)

"Sometimes you need to reinvent yourself. I was a mess, long before I came to Charming. I was living on the run, hoping to find a safe haven in the town I was hiding at. It wasn't living, what I did there, was surviving my abusive ex-fiancé. I was always looking past my shoulders to make sure he wasn't around, always moving out when I felt I stayed too long or when he made himself known to me. A yellow rose, he used to drop it in front of my door and I would know he had found me. I used to suppress my emotions, pretend I was fine, put on a hard face, give into alcohol -yes, I was an alcoholic-, put on a mean mug as if I was telling the world to fuck off... All of that was bravado on my side. All of that was a way for me to pretend I was holding it together when I wasn't.

I wasn't.

Coming to Charming forced me to face my demons. Oscar found me but he died at the hand of my sister, Jessica. I opened my shop, started to make myself known, met Elias Robbins who broke my heart, I finally stopped having to deal with slurs painted on the front porch... I became sober. I found a family in the Sons, friends with the Pistons and the Dames, and Love in Alex. I guess I turned my life around.

Am I the same person I used to be before? No. not anymore. I had to start over twice. once after Elias broke my heart, and once after Oscar died. but I did it, and I'm grateful I did. So yes, sometimes you need to reinvent yourself, start over completely. erase all you used to be to have a healthier start in life and a better life. Is it easy? No, it's bloody hard. It's messy, there are relapses, regrets coming back to you, PTSD for people like me, and every day, you want to give up but hey, take it one day at a time, one step at a time. Soon enough, you'll be on top of the mountain you're trying to climb."

Asma Jensen, Tattoo artist at Charming, former Alcoholic