Michelle Sims, LCSW‑R

If you had asked me when I was younger what I wanted to be, I honestly wouldn’t have had an answer. I didn’t have a clear direction. I hadn’t gone to school to become a therapist. That wasn’t a plan I was working toward.

Years ago, I heard Oprah talk about praying to God, “Use me till I’m all used up.” Those words stayed with me, and I made that prayer my own.

“God, use me till I’m all used up. No matter what.”

I had no idea what I was asking for or what that life would look like. And honestly, it scared me. But I meant it.

I remember saying, “I don’t know what You’re going to have me do, but I’m willing. Show me what You want me to do, and I’ll do it.”

I couldn’t have pictured then the work I would be doing now—the people I would meet, the tools I would teach, or the book I would write.

Years later, a toxic relationship left me needing the very tools I’d been teaching others. I used them. I practiced them. And they helped me come back to myself. I know these tools work because I’ve had to do the work, too.