Events
At thirteen years old, Hollie Stuart—HoHo—is a silly, free-spirited, intellectual kid trying to find her identity. After enduring a chain of traumatic events, she internalizes the pain and hides her secret. It sets her off on a path of depression and self-blame. Finding solace as an accomplished runner, she turns to unremitting self-achievement to soothe her suffering and find her worth.
For twenty-eight years, Hollie is stuck on a roller coaster of happiness and depression, feeling at times like a normal woman and others like she’ll never escape depression’s hold. Above all, she’s searching for freedom from her past traumas.
Hollie’s life takes a turn when, exhausted from wearing the mask and letting the trauma consume her on the inside, she takes fate into her own hands. She liberates herself from the roles and outlooks expected of women in her conservative community. She educates herself on depression, trauma, and PTSD, determined to heal from the pain.
And for the first time in her life, Hollie lets go of the past and really lives, embracing a life of adventure.She skydives from ten thousand feet. She scales Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. She runs international marathons. She takes a solo trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania. In the end, as Hollie stands atop all her triumphs and losses, she realizes she is not her depression or her traumas.