Sometimes we all just need a reset.
But for Kim Cihlar and Christina Johnson, they needed complete do-overs. And that's exactly what they got: Both women were struggling emotionally and physically with various health issues when they decided it was time to turn around their lives. They shared their stories on TheReset.com, a website that features people who have made meaningful changes to their lives, and told TODAY about the journeys that led them there.
For Cihlar, a fashion writer and jewelry designer who lives in New York City, drinking was just a part of life.
"I wasn't taking care of myself," the 58-year-old said. "I wasn't really healthy. I probably weighed, I think, 188 pounds. And I'm 5'1"."
"I drank a lot," she continued. "I could have very well been on the verge of a divorce. And I wasn't happy with myself. I think I was basically in the throes of alcohol addiction. And it's a terrible thing to have an addiction. I would wake up and feel terrible. And I would think to myself, 'The only thing that could cure that was a little glass of wine.'"
A doctor confirmed the alcohol was doing damage — her cholesterol was "sky high" — and on her 50th birthday, Cihlar decided to quit drinking.
"That kind of changed everything for me," she said.
Today Cihlar is sober, a vegan and does yoga.
"I think that yoga saved my life," she said. "I really do. I think there were times when I went to yoga, and I would just cry at the end in savasana."
Dramatic stories like Cihlar's are par for the course on TheReset.com. Take Johnson, who turned her life around after going through a painful divorce and getting diagnosed with Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder.
"I was going through so much stress and pain and guilt and resentment and anger," she told TODAY.
"And I'm wolfing this food down," Johnson, who lives in Atlanta, Georgia, said. "Like, I'm eating it so fast. And the more I'm eating it, the more disgusted with myself I feel."
Johnson realized she not only had to change her relationship with food, but also with herself. She started exercising and eating healthy, and today she's a life coach.
"I think my biggest battle was learning to love myself," she said.
Today both women want others to know that change is possible — it just takes some work.
"I hope hearing my story ... others will understand that there is a silver lining," Johnson said. "You know, there is sunshine after the rain."
