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Not My Circus: Triumph Over Abuse, Trauma & Family Secrets-A Journey To Self Love, Pride and Remarkable Resilience
When life throws you under the bus, how do you find the strength to stand back up?
In Not My Circus, the author shares her extraordinary story of resilience amidst unimaginable adversity. From drug abuse and sexual trauma to homicide, she recounts her harrowing coming-of-age experiences in gritty detail. This powerful memoir will take you on a rollercoaster ride through the author's traumatic teenage and young adult years. You'll venture into the vibrant nightlife of West Hollywood, with all its temptation and danger in the height of the AIDS epidemic. You'll experience the terror of being raped and the frustration of seeking justice. But most importantly, you'll witness the incredible courage and perseverance of a woman determined to heal.
While the events are chilling, the message is inspiring—no matter how much life tries to knock you down, you can choose to stand back up. Through the author's journey of self-discovery, you'll learn that true strength comes from within. Raw, real, and impossible to put down, Not My Circus is a testament to the human capacity for resilience. If you're ready to be moved by one woman's unbelievable story of finding light in the darkness, then this book is for you.
Not My Circus is a raw, honest look at the human capacity to endure and overcome. In this series I aim to inspire everyone to know we are all ResilientAF!
In Not My Circus, the author shares her extraordinary story of resilience amidst unimaginable adversity. From drug abuse and sexual trauma to homicide, she recounts her harrowing coming-of-age experiences in gritty detail. This powerful memoir will take you on a rollercoaster ride through the author's traumatic teenage and young adult years. You'll venture into the vibrant nightlife of West Hollywood, with all its temptation and danger in the height of the AIDS epidemic. You'll experience the terror of being raped and the frustration of seeking justice. But most importantly, you'll witness the incredible courage and perseverance of a woman determined to heal.
While the events are chilling, the message is inspiring—no matter how much life tries to knock you down, you can choose to stand back up. Through the author's journey of self-discovery, you'll learn that true strength comes from within. Raw, real, and impossible to put down, Not My Circus is a testament to the human capacity for resilience. If you're ready to be moved by one woman's unbelievable story of finding light in the darkness, then this book is for you.
Not My Circus is a raw, honest look at the human capacity to endure and overcome. In this series I aim to inspire everyone to know we are all ResilientAF!
260 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2024
4 people want to read
About the author
Delicia Niami
2 books18 followersResilience isn't inherited. It's a hard-fought skill forged by our ability to pick up the broken pieces of our past and remake them into something new.
Meet four-year-old Delicia, a poor but carefree child who is about to have her world shattered. Along with her seven-year-old brother Nile, she is kidnapped from her Los Angeles home by her estranged father and taken to Iraq, a foreign world she has never known. This is just the beginning of a string of traumas, hardships, and assaults Delicia will endure throughout her tumultuous childhood.
Embracing her triumphs through trauma and learning to love and accept her authentic self has been the motivation behind, Resilient AF, her memoir series, a testament to her unwavering commitment, overcoming adversity and prioritizing a happy life. Delicia's perseverance and dedication shine through her poignant writing, inviting readers to find strength in the face of darkness.
Author's Note:
Several of my early readers wondered why I chose to tell my story in snapshots rather than in a linear fashion. The simple answer is because this is how I remember it. But life is never so simple. This is especially true when speaking about trauma.
Throughout my life, many people were astonished by my journey, often encouraging me to write my story. It took forty-eight years for me to be ready.
Once I felt ready, I pondered how I would fit all my memories and events of childhood into some sort of comprehensible order since memories do not come to me linearly but rather in bits and pieces that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Suddenly, it occurred to me. The best way to compartmentalize my childhood was to write in snapshots. I envisioned writing chapters as nouns: important people, places, and things in my life.
It wasn't until I finished writing this book that I realized memories of trauma work differently.
There have been numerous books written about trauma, recall, and the fragmentation process. Intense traumatic memories can create mental fragments (or flashbulb memories) due to hormone overload in the hippocampus of your brain when serious or life-threatening trauma arises.
This is why so many people that have intense trauma can only remember snippets of what happened. During the writing process, I recalled memories that had been completely blocked out—until I began to write. A television in the background of a dark room flashed in my mind as I wrote. Then a large shadowy figure sitting in a chair. The flashes kept coming. Slowly, pieces started converging little by little.
Due to the nature of how my brain processes trauma, each chapter is a short story unto itself. This compilation of stories melds together to create the beginning of my journey to who I have become today.
It is important to note that this memoir is a "snapshot of life" and since my traumas and triumphs have spanned over many years I wanted to give my readers the full picture and in order to do that I had to write my story in three parts: Kissing Asphalt is the first. Followed by Not My Circus, which continues from the end of Kissing Asphalt through about age thirty-two where my world was changed and turned upside down due to another and the biggest trauma of my life. Not My Circus will be followed by The Queen of Silver Linings which will take you through my healing journey including more ups and downs but this will conclude with my triumph, victory, self-love and respect. Like a phoenix, I rise through the ashes!
Meet four-year-old Delicia, a poor but carefree child who is about to have her world shattered. Along with her seven-year-old brother Nile, she is kidnapped from her Los Angeles home by her estranged father and taken to Iraq, a foreign world she has never known. This is just the beginning of a string of traumas, hardships, and assaults Delicia will endure throughout her tumultuous childhood.
Embracing her triumphs through trauma and learning to love and accept her authentic self has been the motivation behind, Resilient AF, her memoir series, a testament to her unwavering commitment, overcoming adversity and prioritizing a happy life. Delicia's perseverance and dedication shine through her poignant writing, inviting readers to find strength in the face of darkness.
Author's Note:
Several of my early readers wondered why I chose to tell my story in snapshots rather than in a linear fashion. The simple answer is because this is how I remember it. But life is never so simple. This is especially true when speaking about trauma.
Throughout my life, many people were astonished by my journey, often encouraging me to write my story. It took forty-eight years for me to be ready.
Once I felt ready, I pondered how I would fit all my memories and events of childhood into some sort of comprehensible order since memories do not come to me linearly but rather in bits and pieces that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
Suddenly, it occurred to me. The best way to compartmentalize my childhood was to write in snapshots. I envisioned writing chapters as nouns: important people, places, and things in my life.
It wasn't until I finished writing this book that I realized memories of trauma work differently.
There have been numerous books written about trauma, recall, and the fragmentation process. Intense traumatic memories can create mental fragments (or flashbulb memories) due to hormone overload in the hippocampus of your brain when serious or life-threatening trauma arises.
This is why so many people that have intense trauma can only remember snippets of what happened. During the writing process, I recalled memories that had been completely blocked out—until I began to write. A television in the background of a dark room flashed in my mind as I wrote. Then a large shadowy figure sitting in a chair. The flashes kept coming. Slowly, pieces started converging little by little.
Due to the nature of how my brain processes trauma, each chapter is a short story unto itself. This compilation of stories melds together to create the beginning of my journey to who I have become today.
It is important to note that this memoir is a "snapshot of life" and since my traumas and triumphs have spanned over many years I wanted to give my readers the full picture and in order to do that I had to write my story in three parts: Kissing Asphalt is the first. Followed by Not My Circus, which continues from the end of Kissing Asphalt through about age thirty-two where my world was changed and turned upside down due to another and the biggest trauma of my life. Not My Circus will be followed by The Queen of Silver Linings which will take you through my healing journey including more ups and downs but this will conclude with my triumph, victory, self-love and respect. Like a phoenix, I rise through the ashes!
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