“So much of that perfectionism is a big, huge piece of it. The people pleasing, because that goes along with it, if I could just be the perfect wife, my husband will stop doing whatever he’s doing, my parents will be proud of me…this is what I’m supposed to be doing.” Abandonment by a parent and cancer in her new parent pushed Sunny to fall heavily onto her coping mechanisms - namely, “presenting well.” Though she was enduring so much, she felt that if her life at least looked good, she’d feel better. Wrapping her pride around her like armor, she felt she was better than the mother who left her, and she tried to ensure everyone knew it. So when her boyfriend tried to kill her, she swept it under the rug, along with all the rest of her pain. But in the process of Recovery, what she saw as her superpower (achieving, excelling, shining at everything) she realized was actually her coping mechanisms. In order to find peace, she had to let go of that shiny armor, lay down her pride, and allow herself to be fully seen and known, in all the messiness.