My name is Sharmall, I am 41 years old and a mother of three: Naeem16, Nevaeh 8, and Noelle 1. My life has been a journey. I didn't have an easy childhood. Both of my parents struggled with drug addiction. I was neglected. My grandmother did the best she could for me, but she was elderly and very sick. At a young age, I found myself taking care of her. At 11 years old, I bounced around the system and was in 5 foster homes where I experienced mental, emotional, and sexual abuse.
Eventually my Uncle took charge of me, and I learned how to survive before I learned how to heal.
There was always something inside of me that refused to give up. That strength eventually showed itself through basketball. I became an All-American basketball player at Columbus Mifflin High School. I graduated in 2003 with many accolades. Basketball taught me discipline. It taught me hard work. It taught me that when you fall, you get back up and keep going.
After high school, my life took me places I never imagined. I got married and was married for 17 years. My husband and I moved to Mackinac Island in Michigan. Later, we moved to Naples, Florida, where we had our son and worked at Texas Roadhouse for 7 years. For a while, life was great. I had a family. I had a home. I had a successful life. From where I came from, it felt like I had made it. I had gone from rags to riches.
But then COVID struck. That's when things began to change. I was really bored and started picking up bad habits. Alcohol came into my life, and I made bad decisions that I never thought I would make. I tried so hard not to me like my mother. Eventually, those choices caught up with me. I caught a couple of felonies and a couple of misdemeanors. The hardest part was that I still thought I had everything under control. However, in 2023 after a woman was kicking in my door, I lost control and beat her up so badly that she had to go to the hospital with broken bones.
That's what addiction can do. It can convince you that you're okay when you're really not. It can make you believe that you can handle just one more day, one more choice, one more consequence. But eventually, I had to face the truth. I wasn't in control anymore. I moved back to Ohio to take care of my sick mother who today is still battling addiction.
Somewhere in the middle of all of that chaos, I found something that changed the direction of my life. Thank God I made it to Amethyst. That's my slogan. Because Amethyst didn't just give me a place to stay and security for me and my children. Amethyst gave me hope. It gave me an opportunity to start healing. It gave me tools. It gave me a chance to look at the trauma from my past instead of continuing to run from it. I took anger management cIasses and was treated for depression. I'm learning how to cope with the things I've carried for years. Most of all, I learned healing doesn't happen overnight.
I still have difficult days. I still have roadblocks. I still have things I'm working through. But today, I have tools. Today, I have people who support me. I can’t afford to make any more mistakes.
Today, I have hope. And while I have been at Amethyst, I had my daughter, Noelle. That experience means so much to me because it reminds me that even in the middle of everything I have been through, life was still giving me something beautiful.
I am learning how to be the mother my children deserve. I'm learning how to take care of myself so that I can take care of them. I'm learning that being strong doesn't mean pretending that everything is okay. Sometimes being strong means saying, "I need help." Sometimes being strong means admitting you don't have all the answers. And sometimes being strong means getting back up one more time. Amethyst has helped me do that. It has helped me begin conquering barriers that I thought would always stand in my way. Are all of my barriers gone? No. Do I still have roadblocks? Absolutely.
But now I know what to do when I come to a roadblock. I don't have to turn around. I don't have to give up. I can find another way through. I am going to graduate from Amethyst. I am going to be a success story. I may even go back to college. When I complete my journey, I want to give back. Because if my story can help one woman believe that she can change her life, then everything I've been through will have greater meaning.
I spent a lot of my life surviving. Now I'm learning how to live. I spent years carrying my trauma. Now I'm learning how to heal. I spent years thinking I had everything under control. Now I understand that asking for help is not a weakness. It's strength. And when I look at my life today, I don't just see the felonies. I don't just see the bad choices. I don't just see the addiction. I don't just see the trauma. I see the little girl who survived. I see the All-American basketball player who refused to quit. I see the mother who keeps fighting for her children. I see the woman who fell and got back up, and I see a woman who still has a future.
My story has gone from rags to riches, from riches to rags, and now from brokenness to healing. And I know I'm not finished yet. I'm still becoming. I'm still learning. I'm still healing. I'm still conquering my barriers. And one day, I'm going to stand here as a graduate and tell somebody else, "If I can do it, you can do it too."
I will always utter the words that remind me how far I've come. Thank God I made it to Amethyst! Thank God I didn't give up! Thank God my story isn't over! Thank God that today I have hope.