ABOUT ME
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ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Megan. I'm a writer, a speaker, an advocate, a mom of four, a #YOLOGirl (You Only Live Once) and a survivor of...just about everything.
In 2011, I wrote a piece called Grim Reaper Girl that went viral, sharing how empathy saved my life after a string of 12 deaths had left me feeling like death followed me everywhere.
Over the next few years, the slew of tragedy continued at a relentless pace. In total, we lost 30 people in 8 years. We moved 4 times. We lost a baby, our home, my daughter's best friend...and then I discovered my husband's deadly painkiller addiction had escalated, and we became a miracle in the WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS story.
But my story is not a pity-party-table-for-one-please story. It’s one of triumph in tragedy. Little triumphs that came slowly and carefully while I fought for my life, my joy, and my love.
I’ve written myself through grief upon grief, and brought myself back to life again and again. I am still doing it now, and along the way, I'm sharing my journey, because I have become a self-certified Heal-Thyself Specialist (it's a fancy title, I know, I earned it with 14 years at The School of Hard Knocks. Did you get a degree from there, too?!).
I'm here to tell you, I see you, I get you, I've been through it, too, and here's how we pick ourselves up and keep moving forward again and again, with our broken, open hearts. I'm here to remind you how to open when you're closed, to soften when you feel yourself turn hard like callouses.
I'm here to encourage you to dare greatly, even when vulnerability makes you quake in your boots. I'm here to urge you forward into unfolding again and again.
I'm also here to remind myself, and YOU, not to take ourselves or this thing called life too seriously!
BIO
Megan Aronson is a spokeswoman, changemaker, writer, and blogger. She is one of ten people in the U.S. who serves on the Advocates for Recovery (OpioidRecovery.org) Survivor’s Council, a bipartisan 501 (c) 4 non-profit organization created by Newt Gingrich, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, and civil rights activist, Van Jones, to combat the current drug overdose epidemic.
Megan also serves as an Addiction Recovery Ambassador and member of Yavapai County's Substance Abuse Coalition, MATFORCE. As a member of their Speaker’s Bureau she shared the WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS story with addicts, their families, and teen drug offenders. She also served on the Verde Valley Steering Committee Task Force to address substance abuse.
As the author of the (unpublished) memoir, WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS, Megan has shared her story on the Our Voices radio show on 90.3 WKAH in New York, on the Voices for Change 2.0 podcast, on VoyagePhoenix.com and through numerous speaking engagements, on the Rise Again blog, and on Twitter, where she has over 25,000 followers.
Megan's 9-minute talk, “I Don’t Need Help” from Sedona’s This Is My Brave has been viewed thousands of times on Facebook and led to an invitation to open the 3rd Annual Verde Valley Mental Health Summit at Cliff Castle Casino.
Megan is a Contributing Author for websites YourTribute.com and OpenToHope.com. She's known as the former host of “Out & About with Megan” on Channel 16 in Sedona, AZ. She has also appeared on AZTV’s AM Arizona several times promoting Sedona, AZ and her writing.
Megan has worked in public relations, marketing, advertising and sales, promoting local businesses through ad campaigns, press releases, and social media.
After battling a rare seizure disorder for two years while writing her memoir, WE'LL BE COUNTING STARS, she is now seizure-free and fully recovered. She enjoys hiking, biking, devouring books like food, and connecting with 20,000 amazing people on the #RiseAgain journey with her on Twitter.
