I was hurting so much inside, emotionally and mentally, that I wanted to, I would rather

physically feel the pain. So when I self harmed, I was cutting myself, so I would cut myself,

and then for those few minutes after I'd done it, instead of my mind and my heart hurting,

my arm was hurting, or my leg was hurting. So that was easier for me to deal with physical

pain than it was to deal with what was going on inside.

Welcome to how my parents raised me, I'm Dawn Chitty. When we are born, we arrive here as pure

and perfect souls, and the direction our life takes from that moment is deeply connected

to what our parents bring to our lives. And what our parents bring to our lives is deeply

connected to what their parents brought to their lives, and that's the cycle of families.

I have always craved connection with real and raw stories to understand what makes you

you, what makes you the absolutely unique human that you are. Stories are medicine for the soul,

they can connect us, and they can change the world. And so in this podcast, I'm listening to

beautiful souls sharing their story, what happened to them, how they got through, and how they have

healed and thrived despite everything to arrive right here in this moment. Content warning,

if you are triggered by the themes of this podcast, please seek a help line in your city.

Hey beautiful souls, I'm chatting with Sharina on the podcast this week. Sharina got her first

boyfriend of 14, and he was much older than she was, and she decided to leave home to live with

this man. This relationship was difficult, and Sharina was manipulated into believing that nobody

else was there for her, and he told her that if she left him, she would be isolated.

Even her mum, she didn't believe that her mum was going to be there for her. And 14 is so, so

young. This scenario is terrifying for anyone, but for a 14 year old team, it was life changing.

There were some real low points in Sharina's life, including episodes of self-harm, and Sharina

...