"i am fire. i am earth. i am nature. i am human." For forty years, Dr. Patlee Creary lived a story she didn’t write. Trapped in a cycle of "little deaths"-the unmourned childhood traumas and the relentless striving for perfection-she finally reached a breaking point. Rebel. Mother. Queen. is the raw, lyrical accounting of what happens when a woman chooses to stop performing and starts being. In this powerful collection of thirty-one essays, poems, and spoken-word pieces, Dr. Creary chronicles a "hero’s journey" from the depths of suicidal ideation to the quiet, fierce strength of self-reclamation. She moves from the "primal scream" of grieving her past to the transformative realization that we have the power to reject the world’s narratives and write our own. Inside this collection, you will find a sanctuary for:
- The Chronic Overachiever: For those tired of digging holes of worry and seeking a way to drop the shovel.
- The Healing Soul: A roadmap for witnessing your own truth and mourning the versions of yourself you left behind.
- The Mother: An invitation to leave a legacy of self-love rather than self-sacrifice.