In this episode, I talk to author, speaker, and professional bodybuilder Jewels. Jewels wrote “The Making of a Woman: From the Inside Out” and is here to speak about childhood abuse, alcoholism, recovery and rediscovery. Jewels hopes she can reach people and show that ‘it’–whatever ‘it’ is–is not pretty, but is possible.

Jewels describes her early life as the ‘first stage,’ one that she had to endure to evolve. The first Jewels was small, and according to her, scared. Suddenly one-in-five kids after her mother remarried, Jewels suffered abuse in the shadows. Her silence was her way of coping with the abuse, which went on for three years.

At 14 she dropped out of school and left home. She had started drinking, drugs, and brought those bad habits into adulthood. Jewels was ‘functioning with a 10-year-old’s idea of what adults do.’ She lacked guidance. But during this time, her mother was her rock as she was her cheerleader when Jewels was ‘circling the drain,’ and handed Jewels her first 30-day sobriety chip. Jewels’ mother died a year after Jewels became sober.

For 19 years, Jewels struggled to get her feet under herself long enough to go it alone. Even in the depths of alcoholism, she had a mission to be independent. Her initial push into sobriety had no fireworks, but was no less powerful. After casually mentioning to a pair of women that she wished she didn’t drink so much, she was in her first room of recovery within 30 minutes.

The support and attention Jewels received in meetings allowed for an emotional release. Now, she sponsors and speaks for others, which she describes as part of the gift of sobriety.

The title for Jewels’ book came to her in a meditation, after a friend told her she needed to write a book. Jewels put it into the universe that she wanted to share her story, and in six months she had finsihed her book.

Listen in to hear what Jewels would tell her past self, how she unlearned the false truths others taught her, and how she transformed her fight-or-flight instincts into an energy for change.