Beautifully Broken is a 41-year-old woman who experienced years of abuse from her mother and her mother’s many boyfriends. She prided herself on not being affected by it. She attended college, became a nurse, and got married. When the youngest of her four children got sick and was wishing to die, Beautifully Broken shares “…my whole world caved in. It took me right back to being a terrified little girl and wishing for the same thing when I was his age. I began falling apart, piece by piece”
She was eventually diagnosed with PTSD. After many years of work recovering memories and then healing, she decided to get a tattoo.
The handwriting “Beautifully Broken” next to the butterfly’s wing is her own. It is placed where she can see it because it “is a visual that helps me remember how far I have come no matter how broken I had become. That I am not just a survivor, but a warrior who is perhaps a little weathered from the battle but still strong and still able to fly.”
“Butterflies have to let go of everything they know and trust in the metamorphosis to bring them to a place of beauty. Without change, there can be no butterflies and even though that change can feel dark, lonely and confining….in the end it is so worth it! The teal colouring of the butterflies is paying homage to the colour of the PTSD awareness ribbon. Also, being able to have my own writing is special to me because I have always been complemented on my penmanship, even to the point that it is recognizable…”
STORIES FROM THE SKIN 