I want nothing more than to share a wonderful story about a strong woman who overcomes poverty, adversity, anxiety, and mediocrity, who grabs life by the horns and screams from the mountain tops her worth and how much she loves the world.

Sorry, this ain’t it.

I’ve accomplished some of these things, like getting a degree while paying my mom’s light bills, but I still have panic attacks when my friends are 3 minutes late to pick me up.

I wish I could give you a synopsis of what you’ll see in chronological order, but God knows that ain’t happening. I’ll give you blurbs of what I’m feeling that day. I still black out at bars but I have goals and aspirations.

Yes, my name is DeRae. Yes, that is my real name, pronounced deh-ray. I’m 26 years old, not married and no children, so basically the least “successful” resident of South Mississippi.

I work in Food and Beverage and have for years. The food is amazing and the people are the worst so I love it.

My life is interesting to say the least. And I guess I’m sharing in hopes to have a handful of people to say, “oh, I’ve been there too”.