I spent my early womanhood in a tug-of-war with her. Weight I couldn’t explain, exhaustion I couldn’t fix, cycles that felt like betrayal. I thought I was doing everything right — eating “okay,” staying busy, keeping the smile, keeping the peace. But my body was keeping score the whole time. PCOS had been hiding behind every miscarriage, every surge of weight I couldn’t shed. And instead of listening, I did what most of us do — I pushed through, prayed harder, and punished my

I remember the day I truly woke up. It was as if I had been asleep for centuries, and suddenly, I took my first breath of consciousness.