Oddball: A Memoir on Resilience - E-book - ePub

As much as she honors other people's stories, in this memoir, Diana Navarro adds to the mosaic of life stories that make up the human sojourn here on earth. Particularly because of her oddities and the way she uses them every day, and because of the resilience she was endowed with. She creatively deals with adversity and chronic pain via consciously choosing self-care. After reaching what she thought her breaking point, she experienced The Dark Night of the Soul.
With this came her spiritual awakening that stripped her from whatever she thought was her identity. In this memoir she is not assuming you have a physical house, a car (or that you drive), a specific level of education, are married, have children, are able-bodied and have full use of all your senses, are female, male, of a certain age group, or religious. I am sharing with the universal you that breathes, needs to eat and sleep, requires shelter, feels and has the ability to think.
As someone who rarely sees herself in popular non-fiction, self-help, inspirational, or motivational books, she wanted to ensure I speak to you whether you are an oddball or not. What you are about to read is a memoir about using the power of beauty as self-care to gain resilience. She also includes quotes to remind us how humans from all walks of life express themselves about sometimes inexplicable human experiences. She is sure most of the people in her life will be taken by surprise by what she is sharing.
Born and raised in the South Bronx, She is a survivor of various physical and emotional traumas and violence. She spent so much time in emergency survival mode that the injuries turned into chronic and permanent damage and pain. In other words, she was declared permanently disabled in 2004. However she has survived and has much to share. Did what rescues others save her? No. Religion didn't save her.
Being in New York City of the United States didn't save her. Higher Education didn't save her. Using her gender and sexuality didn't save her, nor did she know how to do that. Birthing children didn't save her and therefore she chose not to bear children. The right person or system to help her when she was molested, assaulted, experienced domestic violence, poverty or the woes of a being a women or ethnic minority didn't save her.
Traditional relationships didn't save her. The Law of Attraction and magical thinking didn't save her. Logic and science didn't save me. No trendy self-improvement movement saved her. What saved her? Making the choice from the level of the soul and declaring her sovereignty. Resilience and the use of conventional and unconventional methods to keep her life-force going has saved her. She is a self-verified human.
This did not happen suddenly. During the time she was in survival mode, she directed all her energy into trying to serve and heal the world. That is what she was conditioned to do and one of the biggest mistakes of her life. That also created an environment where she attracted people who were all too happy to take advantage of her naïve attempts to be a helper and healer. She learned healing and progress is not linear.
Challenges will appear, seemingly out of nowhere, and this is when the inner strength, that is, the resilience of the soul, must shine through. This is not an overnight success story. This is a "moment to moment I am alive, how do I thrive regardless of anything good or bad, " she is experiencing. The care of you leads to the best version of you. Share her journey, philosophy and opportunity to declare your right to freedom despite adversities.