Hi, I’m Sunshine.

Chapter 01

Surviving

I grew up surrounded by addiction and chaos. Safety wasn’t something I experienced often as a child—it was something I longed for. I learned early how to take care of other people. By the time I was a teenager, I was helping raise my siblings. Before I was old enough to understand the weight of responsibility, I was already carrying it.

Chapter 02

Choosing Recovery

When I became pregnant with my first child, I made the most important decision of my life.

I chose recovery.

It wasn’t easy. Recovery is difficult under the best circumstances. Recovery while surrounded by addiction is something else entirely. But I knew I couldn’t allow my children to grow up watching the same cycle continue.

That decision changed everything.

Over the next twenty-five years, I built a life.

I raised four incredible children. I worked hard. I built a career. I carried responsibilities. I showed up for everyone who needed me.

And like many women, I became very good at taking care of everyone else.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped asking what I needed.

Chapter 03

The Day the Horses Came

Then, in 2023, life brought me somewhere I never expected to be.

I was standing on a farm, in a relationship that was only a few weeks old, looking out across a creek at a herd of horses grazing in the distance.

At that point, horses were simply horses.

Beautiful, yes.

But I had no idea they were about to change my life.

One by one, they lifted their heads.

Then they started moving.

A walk became a trot.

The trot became a run.

More than thirty horses came thundering across the field toward me.

The sound of their hooves shook the earth beneath my feet. I can still feel it when I think about it. It sent a shiver through my entire body.

As they crossed the creek and surrounded me, something happened that I still struggle to put into words.

It wasn’t fear.

It wasn’t excitement.

It was knowing.

Chapter 04

Remembering Myself

I wasn’t carrying everyone else’s burdens.

I wasn’t focused on what needed fixing, solving, or managing next.

And standing there, surrounded by that herd, I knew something had to change.

Not because my life was bad.

Not because I was unhappy.

But because I suddenly realized I was meant for more than surviving.

For twenty-five years, I had been building a life.

That day, I discovered my purpose.

The horses weren’t rescuing me.

They weren’t healing me.

They were inviting me to pay attention.

To slow down.

To reconnect with myself.

To remember who I was beneath all the roles and responsibilities I had carried for so long.

Chapter 05

Why Braver Ground Exists

Looking back now, I believe that was the day Braver Ground began.

Not as a business.

Not as a program.

But as a calling.

Today, Braver Ground is a place for people who have spent years carrying everything for everyone else.

A place for people navigating burnout, grief, recovery, transition, stress, or simply the weight of everyday life.

A place where nothing needs to be proven.

A place where people can slow down long enough to hear themselves again.

The horses are not here to fix anyone.

They are partners.

They have an extraordinary ability to meet us exactly where we are and reflect back what we may have forgotten about ourselves.

My hope is that when you come to Braver Ground, you experience what I experienced that day in the field.

A moment to breathe.

A moment to reconnect.

A moment to remember that you don’t have to carry everything alone.

The herd crossed a creek that day.

And without realizing it, so did I.

— Sunshine