"Life sometimes is a struggle. We have to do what we can to survive. Sometimes we make foolish decisions in life. We all have been there. At times we feel hopeless, unable to persevere. The one thing I've learned is that you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and keep going. Life is full of uncertainties; we have to expect the unexpected. "Being a child of abuse can sometimes be overwhelming. It's really hard when no one listens to you, and there is no one to confirm that you are abused. You feel lost, and the more you deny what happened, the more lost you become. I am a child of abuse. In order to deal with the pain, I created another world for myself. Later I would use drugs to escape my pain. As an adult I felt so much shame for what happened to me, that I retreated into a world of drugs and prostitution. This is my story." -------- Jasmine S.