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Unraveled: A Journey from Breakdown to Breakthrough
If you've ever felt too much and not enough in the same breath - if you've ever tried to outrun anxiety with achievement or quiet shame with control - this book will meet you where you are.
Growing up in the 90s, Vanessa France learned to be dependable and pleasing on the outside while a vigilant nervous system hummed beneath the surface. Over the years, that quiet pressure shaped itself into familiar coping - perfectionism, disordered eating, and a nightly truce with pain. When a global crisis collides with the tender work of hospice and the demands of a young family, her carefully managed life begins to fray. One ordinary-extraordinary moment at home becomes a turning point - not a tidy transformation, but the first honest step toward a different way of living.
Unraveled isn't a flashy before-and-after story - it's the slow, real work of to sobriety, to presence in motherhood and marriage, to faith that grows stronger in stillness, and to a body no longer treated as a problem to fix. Yoga shifts from performance to practice - a grounding path that helps her meet each day with steadiness and care.
Inside, you'll
- Lived-in scenes and clear language for things we rarely name - anxiety that whispers, shame that hides behind "standards," grief that shows up as control
- A compassionate path toward change - small, repeatable choices that build a life you don't need to escape
- Simple nervous-system supports woven through story - breath, rest, boundaries, and kindness as everyday anchors
What you won't
- Judgment, overexposure, or quick fixes - no performance of perfection, no tidy bow
- A promise to "hack" your healing - only an invitation to begin again, gently and honestly
For readers who connected with memoirs of recovery and re-entry - voices like Glennon Doyle, Laura McKowen, and Annie Grace - Unraveled offers a steadier less spectacle, more truth; less shame, more possibility. It's for parents who want to hand their kids a different story; for helpers who forgot they also deserve help; for anyone ready to trade self-criticism for clarity and control for care.
Come as you are. Turn one page. Breathe. Begin again.
Content note - Includes candid reflections on anxiety, disordered eating, and alcohol misuse, as well as hospice work during a global public-health crisis. The emphasis is on recovery, repair, and hope.
Growing up in the 90s, Vanessa France learned to be dependable and pleasing on the outside while a vigilant nervous system hummed beneath the surface. Over the years, that quiet pressure shaped itself into familiar coping - perfectionism, disordered eating, and a nightly truce with pain. When a global crisis collides with the tender work of hospice and the demands of a young family, her carefully managed life begins to fray. One ordinary-extraordinary moment at home becomes a turning point - not a tidy transformation, but the first honest step toward a different way of living.
Unraveled isn't a flashy before-and-after story - it's the slow, real work of to sobriety, to presence in motherhood and marriage, to faith that grows stronger in stillness, and to a body no longer treated as a problem to fix. Yoga shifts from performance to practice - a grounding path that helps her meet each day with steadiness and care.
Inside, you'll
- Lived-in scenes and clear language for things we rarely name - anxiety that whispers, shame that hides behind "standards," grief that shows up as control
- A compassionate path toward change - small, repeatable choices that build a life you don't need to escape
- Simple nervous-system supports woven through story - breath, rest, boundaries, and kindness as everyday anchors
What you won't
- Judgment, overexposure, or quick fixes - no performance of perfection, no tidy bow
- A promise to "hack" your healing - only an invitation to begin again, gently and honestly
For readers who connected with memoirs of recovery and re-entry - voices like Glennon Doyle, Laura McKowen, and Annie Grace - Unraveled offers a steadier less spectacle, more truth; less shame, more possibility. It's for parents who want to hand their kids a different story; for helpers who forgot they also deserve help; for anyone ready to trade self-criticism for clarity and control for care.
Come as you are. Turn one page. Breathe. Begin again.
Content note - Includes candid reflections on anxiety, disordered eating, and alcohol misuse, as well as hospice work during a global public-health crisis. The emphasis is on recovery, repair, and hope.
152 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2025
1 person is currently reading
1638 people want to read
About the author
Vanessa France
1 book2 followersVanessa France is a writer, yoga teacher, and co-owner of Zen Yoga & Wellness in central Massachusetts. Before opening her studios, she worked in hospice, walking alongside patients and families through some of life’s most tender thresholds.
Her debut memoir, Unraveled: A Journey from Breakdown to Breakthrough, traces her path through anxiety, disordered eating, and alcohol misuse into sobriety, motherhood, faith, and the healing practice of yoga. Part intimate story, part invitation to breathe and begin again, Vanessa writes so others feel less alone and more at home in their own lives.
In the studio, she’s known for grounded, compassionate classes that weave breathwork, nervous-system awareness, and accessible philosophy – the kind of practice that meets people exactly where they are. She also hosts community workshops and retreats focused on healing and connection.
Vanessa lives in Massachusetts with her husband and their four children. When she’s not writing or teaching, you’ll find her on a lake with a paddleboard, driving her kids from one activity to the next, or walking with her husband and golden retriever, Gracie. Unraveled is her first book.
Her debut memoir, Unraveled: A Journey from Breakdown to Breakthrough, traces her path through anxiety, disordered eating, and alcohol misuse into sobriety, motherhood, faith, and the healing practice of yoga. Part intimate story, part invitation to breathe and begin again, Vanessa writes so others feel less alone and more at home in their own lives.
In the studio, she’s known for grounded, compassionate classes that weave breathwork, nervous-system awareness, and accessible philosophy – the kind of practice that meets people exactly where they are. She also hosts community workshops and retreats focused on healing and connection.
Vanessa lives in Massachusetts with her husband and their four children. When she’s not writing or teaching, you’ll find her on a lake with a paddleboard, driving her kids from one activity to the next, or walking with her husband and golden retriever, Gracie. Unraveled is her first book.
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December 10, 2025
This memoir came from some of the hardest and most transformative moments of my life. I hope the story inside offers light, healing, or resonance to anyone walking a similar path.
Displaying 1 of 1 review