Life’s lessons learned ... and now shared

As shared in the Woolwich Observer on Feb 20, 2025
https://www.observerxtra.com/lifes-lessons-learned-and-now-shared/

St. Jacobs woman’s determination for something more fulfilling led to publishing Live Your Dreams, Not Your Drama

Andrea Eymann

Tina Richards Cassidy’s first book, Live Your Dreams, Not Your Drama, documents her journey from victim to victor in the hope others will live their own lives powerfully.

A ST. JACOBS AUTHOR PUBLISHED

her first book by drawing on her determination to live a fulfilling life.

Tina Richards Cassidy released Live Your Dreams, Not Your Drama about her journey from “victim to victor and your guidebook to getting out of your way and into your life.”

“In these pages, I share how I broke free from the binds of my inherited life to really create a life that I love to live,” she explained.

Now 50, the author notes her life was once a “hot mess,” but she was determined to overcome a physically and emotionally abusive childhood, a far-from-prosperous upbringing and becoming a mother herself at age 18 to her daughter Cassandra, now 31.

In her book, Richards Cassidy notes that anyone can get stuck in their existence, feeling how unfair it is, but her message is about how someone can get through all of that to a better place.

“I just knew that the life I had wasn’t working; I was living Groundhog Day, and I was stuck in a vicious cycle,” she said of how in 2018 she realized she had to change how she was living.

At that time, she was living in Manitoba with an ex-boyfriend who became an opioid addict. She then moved back to Waterloo Region, but that wasn’t enough of a change, as she gained about 40 pounds and started withdrawing from her family and friends.

Then, one of her longtime friends pulled her aside and helped her get out of the negative mindset – she started seeing how things shifted by getting out of the mental rut she’s been in.

She got really passionate about self-development, and for six years, she studied personal development philosophies and how humans functioned.

“From then on, my life catapulted,” Richards Cassidy said.

The biggest thing she was proud of learning was helping to break a pattern of parenting of generational trauma, as it “created disconnection, fear, struggle, hurt, and when I became a mom at 18, and then again at 23, I knew I didn’t want that for my daughter, I didn’t want her to have the same struggles, the same childhood I had. I wanted better for her,” she said, noting her mom had her at the same age.

Richards Cassidy innately knew she wanted to make that change for her daughters, but it wasn’t until later that she finally started working on herself and started being present and understanding.

“I started to create a different experience for my kids and break that cycle that was running in my family for so long,” she explained.

Now, she has a relationship with her kids that is opposite to what she had with her mom, Mona, as a kid.

As a child, her mom scared her. “I lived with a healthy dose of fear of my mom,” the writer said.

“I loved her… and I’m not going to say she didn’t love me because I can tell you so many times that I knew I was loved,” she said, noting that she brings that up within her book.

“But now we talk about everything; it’s just so much different… she tells me how proud she is of me.

“Now I have a good relationship with my mom, but I had to create that,” Richards Cassidy said.

“It always requires work, communication, connection… but here’s what people don’t realize until you address it, until you’re complete with it – it always stays, as most people think that your past is behind you, but it doesn’t affect your present, it affects your future,” she said.

When she started owning up to her past, she called everyone she knew, taking responsibility for her existence and working to be a person of integrity.

“I started owning my s*** because now I’m just free to act, and I don’t have anything out there that’s hindering me,” she noted.

Throughout her book, she shares all the necessary information about her journey to show the readers how she transformed herself to get to this point, noting she is honest and transparent in her writing.

When she was younger, she had always written poems and stories, yet the idea of the book didn’t start taking form until the pandemic in 2020 when she was living in British Columbia.

She was sitting down having a conversation in her head about how one day she wanted to write a book, and she figured instead of saying “someday,” she would immediately make it a priority given that the lockdown had provided plenty of time to begin writing.

It took her four years to write, and “the words flowed,” she told The Observer.

Richards Cassidy has 25 years of experience in disability management, personal growth, development and coaching, as she works as a workplace support consultant at a nonprofit cooperative.

She notes that the audience this guide is directed to is anyone who wants to take on their life powerfully.

Interested readers can pick up a copy of her written work at the Book Loft in St. Jacobs. It’s also available on Amazon or via her website at www. tinarichards.ca.

Article Name: Life’s lessons learned ... and now shared

Publication: The Woolwich Observer

Author: Andrea Eymann

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