Twenty years ago, although I felt gifted with beauty, intelligence, talent, and success, as well as association with important persons in culture and art (I was myself a painter, writer, and journalist),I was a sad, unhappy creature. Laboring under the religious tradition of my family, I had accepted with bitterness the notion that because I had so much, I must pay a high price.
My mother had been afflicted with continuing nervous breakdowns, which she justified to some extent as being the result of a difficult and dull life. I felt I had inherited her tendency toward nervous troubles. I was very weak and suffered often from nervous exhaustion. Doctors told me I had very low blood pressure. Anguish and fear of almost everything rendered me incapable of going out or staying home alone. I also clung to those I knew, although they were powerless to help me. Having a five-year-old son forced me to survive. But how?
One day I ran into a journalist, a casual acquaintance, whom I invited home quite spontaneously. I tried not to appear disturbed, but she was not deceived. She said to me, "You have something on your mind. Perhaps things aren't going so well. Would you like help?" I answered simply that I had no choice. She told me about Christian Science. I bought a copy of Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and began to attend a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. There I met a Christian Science practitioner, who helped me attain healing through prayer and study of this Science, a study that seemed very difficult.
