“Days of our Lives” star Tamara Braun (Ava Vitali) took to Instagram recently to share a statement of reflection about the woman she was and the woman she’s become today, revealing previous struggles, dreams, heartache, beauty, and past trauma.
“This young woman. I look at her now and appreciate her struggles, her dreams, her heartache, her beauty,” Braun says of herself using an older image as a guide. “The voices in her head weren’t always kind to her and what she was dealing with back then. She thought her trauma defined her and she was damaged goods. Not to be truly loved. Not worthy.”
With lessons learned as we get older, wiser and more open with ourselves, Braun says, “The voices in our heads can sometimes be even more damaging than the events that caused the trauma because it’s constant and unrelenting.” She adds, “If we can learn to change the chatter and replace the negative with the positive, the cruel with the kind, the lack with the gratitude then things slowly get better. But it takes work. It needs to be as constant as the voices in our heads. More so even. It’s a process. But it’s worth it. Things don’t become perfect. Nothing ever is. But things get better. And kinder in those beautiful noggins of yours.”
In response to Braun’s post, which has amassed nearly 2,000 likes since it was published on Thursday, some of her fellow daytime actors have responded to her post with several using multiple “heart” emojis as a response. Former “General Hospital” co-star Brianna Nicole Henry (Jordan Ashford) commented, “Love her, and love the woman she is now.” Michele Val Jean, a writer at “The Bold and the Beautiful,” said, “I love you.”
Braun concluded her post using a pink “beating heart” emoji along with the hashtags “be kind to yourself,” “love,” “compassion,” “gratitude” and “beauty in all things,” among others.
Reflect on Braun’s message below.