What happens when the family meant to love you becomes the place you learn to survive?

On this episode of Author Insight with Anne Peshka, we explore Trauma Recycled: A Memoir of Adoption, Abuse and Reinvention, an unflinching account of childhood trauma, addiction, motherhood, and the difficult journey of breaking generational cycles.

Adopted at just four months old, Anne grew up learning that love came with conditions and silence was the price of survival. By sixteen, she was struggling with alcohol, drugs, and destructive relationships. By eighteen, she was a mother herself, trying to raise a child while still navigating the wounds of her own childhood.

At twenty-one, faced with another pregnancy, Anne made one of the most painful decisions of her life: placing her second son for adoption. What felt like heartbreak also became a turning point, forcing her to confront her worth and begin imagining a different future.

In Trauma Recycled, Anne shares the raw truth about the people who failed her, those who helped her survive, and the complicated choices that shaped her journey toward reinvention. This is not a story of a perfect recovery or a neatly packaged happy ending. It is a story about what it takes to keep living when life has not given you the tools to heal.

In this conversation, we're getting into the heart of the story:

• How childhood trauma can shape adult relationships and choices.
• The connection between survival, addiction, and self-worth.
• The painful realities of motherhood when you're still healing yourself.
• The decision to place a child for adoption and the love, grief, and courage behind it.
• What it means to break a cycle rather than pass the pain on to the next generation.
• The messy, imperfect process of rebuilding a life after trauma.

Anne's story reminds us that understanding where our pain began is not the same as allowing it to define where our lives end.

Get your copy of Trauma Recycled: A Memoir of Adoption, Abuse and Reinvention.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Recycled-Memoir-Adoption-Reinvention-ebook/dp/B0HJMSHSDQ/

Visit Anne's website: https://annepeshka.com/

About Author Insight

Author Insight brings readers inside the stories behind the books, exploring the experiences, truths, and turning points that inspire authors to put their lives and lessons on the page.

Because sometimes, the most powerful stories aren't the ones that make us comfortable. They're the ones that make us think, question, and see the human experience differently.

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