Reading: #232 Reinventing Yourself After Childhood Trauma (Antonia Deignan)

TW: Sexual abuse of a child, eating disorders

“I became incredibly skilled at disassociating,” recalls dancer-turned-author, Antonia “Tunie” Deignan. With a lifelong passion for dance, Deigan used ballet to help herself cope with traumatic experiences at home and in school. She launched herself into a successful dance career despite trying to deal with her trauma with substance abuse and an eating disorder. When Deignan became a mother her world was transformed. A bike accident forced a reinvention that made her look back at everything she had been through and find the threads to recovery. Listen in to this gentle, honest, and thoughtful conversation with CoveyClub founder Lesley Jane Seymour to hear Deignan’s phenomenal story of survival, how she navigated facing her traumas, and how she used writing to process her grief and heal her soul.

Antonia Deignan is a mother of five children by choice, a dancer by calling, and a writer by necessity. She was born on the East Coast but spent most of her life in the Midwest, where she danced with multiple dance companies and raised her children. She opened her own dance studio and directed a pre-professional dance company before a bike accident wish-boned her path, and her identity. Instagram