99 - Dyenna McConnell's Long Effed Up Road to Happiness

Meet Dyenna McConnell. I’ve known Dye for a few years. She is a Skirt Sports ambassador with a passion for helping others find health and happiness. On the outside, she is a beautiful, strong, healthy woman who is a natural athlete with a seemingly happy career, a new marriage, and a loving relationship with her children. But as you will hear in this episode, nothing is exactly as it seems. Dye has endured life experiences that most of us will never be able to understand or relate to. She has overcome horrible abuse and neglect and today has created a life path that has so much potential for happiness. Dye, like all of us, is very much still on her journey of healing and seeking her purpose. She has not fully processed her experiences. Part of her hope is that as she does, she can help others who have been hurt and need to know that they too can survive. Today’s episode is tough at times. If children are listening with you, you may want to pre-listen to this conversation. We discuss serious topics including sexual abuse of a child and suicide. But ultimately Dye shows us that no matter how difficult our pasts, our futures can still be beautiful. Today we talk about: Growing up a victim of sexual abuse The foster system Abandonment issues Teenage pregnancy Giving up a child for adoption - and the shame she still feels about it Pumping milk in the bathroom stalls in high school Smoking, Drinking & Drugs Turning your life around Coping by not coping Fitness as a part of the recovery puzzle And more This is a deep episode. Very tough in many ways. My biggest fear is that my daughter will be hurt in the ways that Dye was hurt as a little girl. I personally struggled when Dye said that she still copes by not coping. But I also understand it because Dye didn’t have anyone in her life who had her back. She was all alone through everything. But now she’s not. She’s coming out the other side and it’s like watching a beautiful butterfly emerge slowly. As she says, the most important thing you can do is share your story. You may not know the people you can help. You can find Dye on her blog Run Eat Tri Yoga and please follow her on Facebook and Instagram! That’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode and get ready to tune in soon to my next Mile Repeat mini pod. I’m experimenting with that new format and so far so good! All right then you know what time it is. It’s time to get out there and run this world. Have a great workout and I’ll see you next week.