Welcome to Sisters Like Us…Where We Win!
Hello! I’m Dawn Dean, the personality and author behind SistersLikeUs.com (SLUWiN), and the author of Cracks in the Pavement: Struggles of Butterflies. Follow along to see what, how and why I created this spot to express my creative side while encouraging others to win.
Q: What is SistersLikeUs.com?
A: SistersLikeUs.com is a platform created to inspire women, and men to win.
Q: How?
A: It inspires women and men to win by encouraging and demonstrating how a positive mind, a healthy body, and the conscious awareness of the spirit-soul(being), presence within each of us connects to help us thrive. The soul for me is our surroundings i.e. our home, the company we keep, and nature.
Q: Why did I create SistersLikeUs.com?
A: I created SistersLikeUs.com out of chaos, a need to vent, then realizing I wasn’t alone and others could benefit from my stories of life’s ups and downs.
The Story behind the Why.
In the late 90’s I was living a happy life before my body would show me just how important one’s health truly is.
A single mother of three, thriving as a manager at a large well-known department store without a degree under my belt (only college credits).
I was a hard worker striving to become a buyer for the May company. But physical pain setup camp never to dismantle.
I was diagnosed with lupus and fibromyalgia. I dreaded a career change, but the agonizing pain left no options.
I would soon find myself setting behind a desk but I loved working retail and meeting new people every day. For a period I worked full-time as a Staffing Manager at a temporary agency and for a short time as an Executive Assistance at a public relation firm (PR) before landing a job at a pharmaceutical association.
After two-and-a-half years working in the membership and marketing department, my health seriously declines. Losing the job meant losing health insurance and the means to provide for my growing children. I gave up.
Being what I call a functional depressive for as long as I could remember, I would succumb to the dark side of depression. Unable to bear the loss of my health; job, family members, and friends. I could no longer function even a little bit without putting on the pretend mask; a smiling mask to hide all my pain.
It would take me seven years before I would seek professional help.
Fortunately I found a great therapist who saw me-Dawn; the loving mother, the creative writer and poet, and the compassionate and helpful woman buried beneath life’s debris.
She helped me reignite the flickering flame burning deep within wanting to resurface. She helped me to visualize a life beyond my adversities (Thank you, Denise!).
After many years visiting her-therapist and her eventually retiring. I took what she had relayed, unveiled and the things she saw in me to push past my setbacks.
I came to understand and accept that my emotional and physical pain was God’s way of forcing me to live in my true purpose–to tell my stories.
Though I had had my own life goals mapped out (but also loved writing). He had bigger plans for me.
And so my pain would form the blossoming of SistersLikeUs.com Where We Win! Designed to help others overcome life’s adversities in order to WIN.
Everyone has a story. How are you using yours? I’m telling mine’s to inspire others.
I hope each post will uplift and encourage your growth in some way
Thank you for subscribing to SistersLikeUs.com and following our growth to win.
Aspire to Inspire!
Xoxo,
Dawn Dean