Once upon a time, not long before her 18th birthday, Amy Oestreicher was a young woman full of hope and promise, with plans for college and dreams of Broadway. One week before her senior prom, a blood clot changed everything. In agonizing pain, she was rushed to the hospital—where her stomach exploded, literally. Both of her lungs collapsed. After months in a coma, Amy woke up to learn she might never eat or drink again. Eventually, she had 27 surgeries to salvage and replace her digestive system.
Today, nearly 15 years later, Amy Oestreicher is grateful for that “explosion”—her first of six difficult but wonderful life-changing “detours.” In her debut book, MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful (Singing Tree Publishing; November 19, 2019; ISBN-13: 978-17333138819) author Amy Oestreicher shares her incredible story of trauma and transformation. She also shares the beliefs and practices that took her from barely surviving to thriving—and blazing her own trails as a “Detourist.”
“A Detourist looks for the upside of obstacles,” Amy explains. “A Detourist follows that twisted path because they’re curious to see where it could lead. In addition, a Detourist embraces those unexpected routes as opportunities for growth, change, and self-fulfillment.”
Part memoir and part self-help guide, MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR recounts Amy’s major detours—from her medical trauma to having her identity shattered to the return of memories of another trauma she thought she had buried: being sexually molested by a trusted mentor. As she acknowledges, she was hurt, betrayed, and broken—physically and emotionally. But her passion and determination stayed strong.
A gifted storyteller, Amy writes with honesty, heart, and humor (yes, her book, which she describes as a “fun read” is filled with amusing adventures—like the time she “escaped” from the hospital for a shopping spree). She is also an amazing teacher. With MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR to light the way, readers will learn how to:
- Turn creativity into a force for healing, with insight into the power of artistic expression—whether in the form of sketching, painting, singing, dancing, acting, or writing—in alleviating pain and recovering from trauma.
- To tap into the courage to find your own uniqueness and dare to reject the path you always thought you wanted and redefine the person you always thought you were.
- Be grateful for what you take for granted (after years of being nourished by feeding tubes, Amy savored her first sips of water) and for the hardships and setbacks that give you the opportunity to rethink, rebound, and reinvent yourself.
- Connect to, inspire, and lead others through storytelling. By sharing your stories, you touch hearts, open minds, enrich your community, honor the ideas you believe in, and pass on the lessons you have learned.
Amy Oestreicher is living proof that even the most unwelcome and painful detour can lead to unexpected blessings. MY BEAUTIFUL DETOUR is a testament to her spirit and resilience—and her gift to those struggling to survive and find their way.
An estimated 70 percent of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic event at least once in their lives and up to 20 percent of these people go on to develop posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. An estimated 5 percent of Americans—more than 13 million people—have PTSD at any given time.
Amy Oestreicher was one of them. So, what happens when an ordinary teenager has to turn into a warrior just to survive? And can the journey through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder really become an “adventure?”
Amy had ambitious plans for college and a Broadway career, until her stomach exploded the week before her senior prom. Months later, she awoke from a coma to learn that she might never be able to eat or drink again. After years on IV nutrition, her first bite of food awakened her senses to life’s ordinary miracles but also brought back memories of being sexually abused by a trusted mentor for months, just before the unexpected rush to the emergency room that fateful Passover night. With determination, imagination, relentless resilience, and an inner “hunger” for life, Amy created a roadmap where none existed. Her journey through life’s unthinkable detours is nothing short of miraculous, but the creative path to healing she forged is accessible to anyone. As a survivor—and “thriver”—of abuse and extensive medical trauma, Amy discovered sources of resilience she didn’t know she had but it turns out we all possess. In this book, she creates a tapestry made from each of each thread of her journey, empowering others to find gratitude in every setback and discover their own infinite inner strength. Amy’s search for “home” proves to be the greatest test of cultivating resilience after near-death, and reclaiming identity after both sexual assault and medical trauma. Amy’s journey is ultimately a celebration of ordinary and extraordinary challenges and miracles.
In this coming of age story, Amy shares her struggles and discoveries living with both visible and invisible illness, the tremendous gifts to be reaped from trauma, its lessons which have illuminated her path, and how these gifts can be discovered as a unique, yet universal way to navigate any kind of uncertainty.
Interwoven through her remarkable story are insights on navigating any kind of uncertainty, including:
- What is a “detourist”– and why is it important to take those detours?
- The importance of detours for college students
- How to transition from being a “survivor” to a “thriver”
- Amy’s” Four Hardcore Skills” to resilience
- Finding your own uniqueness not through what’s happened to you, but what you choose to do with it
- The power of art to heal: five ways to incorporate art in your healing process
- Our innate ability to be artists, and why creativity is an essential mindset
- Why sharing your story is imperative to healing, and how to creativity to reframe your narrative
- How humor is a way through
- Turn messes, mistakes and setbacks into creative detours
My Beautiful Detour offers practical strategies for individuals and unexpected tools for the families of trauma survivors, helping communities build new, limitless futures. The book includes numerous “trauma insights,” and is enriched with humor, art, poetry, and useful takeaways for readers. Reading one woman’s heroic adventure through trauma, recovery, and discovery of new directions in healing the body and the mind is an empowering tale of not just getting through, but thriving.
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