You Will Never Be Normal

You Will Never Be Normal is my personal story of dissociative identity disorder, (DID), a mental illness that is seldom, if ever, talked about in conversations about overcoming stigma in mental health. I was ambushed by a dissociative crisis and the knowledge of childhood trauma from long ago. Multiple identities horrified me. In this mental health memoir about DID, I take the reader along with my discoveries as I tackle themes of sexual abuse, family relationships, romantic relationships, PTSD, self-harm and self-love, mental illness, therapy, love, and death. You Will Never Be Normal develops along three threads: the story of DID, the backstory and seminal events of my life, and the inner story of my five primary alternate identities—plus my reflections as I move between them. Disclosing DID in this memoir reveals that resilience and healing can be learned. The book ends as a deeper investigation of self-compassion and the reconciliation of opposing realities for all of us.