Misery, You Don't Get My Company: Finding the Courage to Be Happy Again

Valerie Silveira is a woman of unwavering strength who uses her battle scars to turn regular women into powerful Women of Courage. If you never heard Valerie speak, it would be difficult for you to imagine that her daughter Jamie (a.k.a. Jordan) was murdered in August of 2016. This was not the first time Jamie had been shot -- exactly 12 years and 12 days earlier she survived the same injury. Valerie had been riding the Roller Coaster From Hell for 13 years while Jamie lived in the belly of her addiction Beast. She finally made a life-saving decision to stand up and fight for her own life. Valerie understands that she will always live with a hole in her heart, but she made a decision shortly after Jamie's death to not allow misery back into her life. Instead, she stands a woman of courage, showing others it is possible to be happy, no matter what. Valerie says it best when she says, "When the Beast reminds me of my loss, I choose courage. When I become frustrated that there is no justice for Jamie yet, I choose courage. When I doubt myself, I choose courage. When the purpose I am living out gets especially difficult and exhausting, I choose courage. When the Beast drops fear on my doorstep, I choose courage. When I am tempted to become unhappy again, I choose courage. When the hole in my heart aches, I remember that I have crossed over the courage line and there is no going back."