The You Within: Finding Hope, Purpose, and Your Authentic Self

By Jennifer Rogers

Have you ever found yourself in a dark time of your life? A time so dark you feel like it will never end unless you die. I know this feeling all too well. It took me feeling like I was dying to look at my life. After suffering a devastating miscarriage in May of 2021, I found myself hemorrhaging buckets of blood and in an emergency surgery. It could have been my last moment. Not only was my body spilling blood physically, but my emotional vault also where I had stuffed everything for the last 36 years of my life was spewing oil from the inside of who I was. Drowning and suffocating me from within. When I realized the severity of the situation I was in, my initial thought wasn't one of relief for surviving. It wasn't gratitude. Or fear. I thought, "If I died at this moment, what could I say about my life? What would I say about who I am? Who is Jennifer Rogers outside of all the titles I've attained in my life? Am I happy? Did I live a life for me? Did I know who I truly was?" When faced with these questions, my answer was a resounding "NO." This moment of honesty with myself led me to finally look at my life, what I truly wanted out of it, and how I would move forward. It wasn't because I felt like I hadn't done any good in the world. In the years leading up to this book, I've had incredible opportunities to impact prison inmates and former drug addicts in a positive way through speaking. And it wasn't because I felt unloved by others. By this point, I knew there would be tons of people at my funeral. But I would have died in regret. A regret I never really lived my life for myself--for my own peace and happiness. Most of my life had been lived chasing after the approval of others, being the person everyone else wanted me to be. Even at my lowest point, when it probably seemed like I didn't care about anyone else, I was chasing the approval of others. Only when I was facing death did these thoughts arise, leading me on a spiritual journey to discover the real Jennifer, the "Me" within. This regret was the latest wakeup call in a long series of wakeup calls that have made up the chapters of my life. I've lived many lives--as an addict, a drug dealer, a prisoner, a single mother fighting to get her daughter back, a successful sales leader, a motivational speaker and spiritual leader. But in all of these, the theme of my life's story has been pain--and getting through it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0DDDH522S
• ISBN13: 9798335915397
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 301 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"