A Memoir
by
Diana Reyers
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Around the Table
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Escaping the Cycle of Insanity
As a little girl in the early sixties, Diana sat at the kitchen table managing the consequences of spilling her milk. At the age of five, she already sensed the agony of intimidation radiating from the patriarchal figure hanging on the crucifix above the door. She believed her father and Jesus were one and the same and began counting the peas and carrots on her plate to cope with her developed emotional trauma.
Through her quest to discover her worthiness and survive her teenage years, Diana’s coping mechanisms amplified as she struggled to define love through acceptance within inherited patterning of matriarchal control.
Her path through adulthood took many u-turns as this courageous woman chose to defy dysfunctional codependency to find genuine connection while co-existing with those she loved.
This fifty-five-year account shares the duality of heart-wrenching and heart-warming memories within a daughter’s battle between the perception of what is right and what is wrong while painstakingly escaping the cycle of living on what she believed was the brink of insanity.
Praise For
Around the Table
Praise For
Around the Table
Reading “Around the Table” has opened my eyes to the hierarchy of parental control and the unique perception and interpretation of each child’s experience and how this shapes their beliefs into adulthood. A greater understanding of families and generational trauma and control that often changes within the place you land within your family dynamic often determines the degree of dysfunction...
Donna Fitzgerald, Bestselling Author
Creative Healing Through Transformation:
Conversations with my Soul
donnafitzgerald.ca
I have known Diana Reyers for over a decade and have always thought of her as a courageous, vulnerable, inspiring leader. And now I know more of the backstory of how she became the remarkable woman that she is. Hers is an exquisitely heartbreaking, brave, enlightening exploration of her roots, the origins of her inner critic, her familial behaviour patterning and the courageous self-reflection and personal growth to become the authentic woman she is today. I saw parts of myself in her story, and I imagine you will too. A spellbinding read and an inspiration for your own personal self-discovery and journey of growth.
Laura Mack, MBA
CEO at Authentic Leadership Global, Inc.
...Many readers will relate to the desire for love from a parent as a child and the sentiment of inadequacy when the latter’s perception is the failure to achieve the quest. Mrs. Reyers not only shares with us the different sufferings from her childhood traumas with authenticity and vulnerability but genuinely paints the relatable addiction for belonging in a palpable way: living day-to-day in search of the hit.
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Julie Gauthier, Bestselling Author
Hungry To Be Me: A Quest to be my Own Hero
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Diana's story takes you on a journey through the lens of her sensitive, young, and loving soul. You will truly feel the difficulties that she endured while navigating through her childhood as she was indeed loved but from a distance. Sadly, a love that came in a maze of conditions. I found myself cheering her on as she attempted to understand the meaning of unconditional love at such a young age—affection and adoration, which she would find in the heart of her grandmother, her Oma. This story tells of such a deep longing for loyalty, trust, true friendship, and the meaning of this beautiful but wild ride called family.
Maureen Rooney, Bestselling Author
A Child’s Nightcap: My Soul’s Survival Story
Trauma and Paediatric RN
Growing up a child of the early ‘70s, the poignant way that Diana writes her memoir insights familiar passages of hierarchy, protocols, and generational dynamics. I was transported through her words to a place where I was a benefactor of her experience—a voyeur of life with her family. It's hard to explain, which is why I believe you need to read this offering, the feelings that arose, leaning into a young Diana's thought processes. What starts with a literal lesson over 'spilt milk', soon sets the stage for a figurative measuring stick as to her place then, and now, in the world. The renderings of her soul unfold as she invites you to reconcile with her, her belief systems, her dynamic translations, and her softened approach to relationships that developed through her childhood and on into her own family dynamics...
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Candace Chisholm, Bestselling Co-Author,
She Changed Me: One Ordeal; Two Perspectives
CEO and Co-Founder of He Changed It and She Changed It,
mobile apps for health and wellness prevention.
This beautifully written story opened my eyes to Diana’s reality of an understandable struggle with acceptance and unworthiness many cannot comprehend. Her descriptions of necessary distraction to avoid inevitable trauma brought me along on this journey with an injected humour, relating to what she was going through in moments of chaos which others referred to as normality. It was like she was describing a story from centuries past based on family tradition and ideology, which understandably took its toll regarding self-identity and self-worth...
Corey Laine Hilton, Bestselling Author
Take it Off: Revelations of a Male Exotic Dancer
Authenticity Coach & Introspective Influencer
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Diana Reyers' book, “Around the Table: Escaping the Cycle of Insanity” is a tribute to the determination and self-awareness that was required of her in order to navigate, heal, and eventually, overcome deeply complex familial rituals and relationships. It is a must read, particularly for daughters with the desire to understand difficult relationships they have with their parents and grandparents, as well as the cultural and religious upbringings that they may be questioning in order to step fully into who they are, and not who others want them to be.
Tana L. Heminsley, Author
Awaken Your Authentic Leadership—and adaptations
& Ease Amidst Challenging Times
Praise for
Diana Reyers
The endorsement of Diana’s memoir is both among the easiest and most difficult writing tasks I have had come across my desk in quite some time. It’s easy to write many heartfelt words about who Diana is and the emotional content of her story. My difficulty comes in the attempt to keep it brief as our dynamic is one that has many layers.
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I first met Diana on the set of a community television program I was spending time volunteering at. She was a guest promoting one of her other books, and I connected with her right away. I knew she was an authenticity coach and spent time helping women with addictions. She was so polished, self-assured, and confident as she talked about her then current project and what it meant to her. We became fast friends. My wife and I got to know Diana even better over the years during various ways our lives crossed paths from time to time. When it came time to write our book, Diana was an integral part to my wife and me. She was our guide, editor, coach, strategist, and cheerleader.
Diana has many gifts. She can be stone cold logical and hold reams of emotional empathy for people, seemingly at the same time. She is brilliant, insightful and has the ability to both inspire and motivate. Her communication skills are superlative. So too is her fierce desire to help people. I would not be a published author were it not for her. How did someone become so impressive? Was she always like this? Was she just wired this way?
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In getting to know Diana, like any relationship that finds its way moving below the surface, answers to that question started to pop up like pieces of the puzzle: a comment about her childhood here; a sharing of something going on with one of her parents there; and every once and a while, the retelling of a major life event or two. All revealing that this amazingly put-together woman, who seemingly was just naturally impressive, was indeed the result of a lot of fucking work with a lot of fucking history—some of it extremely traumatic.
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The tapestry of trauma in all our lives makes us who we are in an intertwinement of events and emotional effects of those events. Couple that with our own perceptions, dreams, skills, insights, and self-awareness, and you see the actions and results of those actions that become our lives. Diana has authentically taken all of these things into account in this powerful, heartfelt, sometimes difficult sharing of the ingredients that life gave her and what was made, and still is being made with those ingredients. She pulls no punches and talks about the things many of us never talk about, while giving us, the reader, both the ability to see what has made her who she is and relate to similar things that occur in our own lives.
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She shows us an insightful nature in which her journey of experience and culture combine and continue to constantly develop and help her grow to this very day. And we get the good fortune to be a part of her journey thanks to her allowing us to bear witness by reading the words in this volume.
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Diana was a little girl who grew into a woman that just wanted to do something right, and perhaps she is such a high achiever and helps others achieve great things because of that nearly impossible, unquenchable mandate. And while nobody does everything right every time, she sure tried. I am grateful she dared to share all of the stories contained in this volume. I look forward to you holding the same regard for her that I do.
Mike Chisholm, Co Author of ‘She Changed Me; One Ordeal, Two Perspectives’ & Host of ‘He Cast’ the official podcast of HeChangedIt.com
Diana has this wondrous way of transforming fear of vulnerability into heartfelt connection between author and writer, speaker and audience, and even strangers who bravely say hello after turning the pages in one of her books. Despite the personal hardships, and emotional trauma Diana has faced, she continues to rise above all adversity by shining light on darkness
and exposing truth with courageous love.
These are just some of the gifts Diana brings along
with her each time she dares to share, while inspiring countless others to do the same.
Grateful to know her and love her;
Diana has become a cherished confidante and
lifelong friend.
~Michelle Elleana Nadeau,
Bestselling Co-Author
Daring to Share Deception to Truth