Some women do not leave because they are weak. They stay because they are trying to hold a family together, protect the people they love, and make sense of a life that slowly taught them to survive instead of live.

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For Naida I. Sanchez, leaving a 16-year marriage was not just the end of a relationship. It was the beginning of reclaiming her safety, her peace, her identity, and her future. And as a woman who is legally blind, Naida has also had to navigate life with a major challenge that required resilience long before she ever began rebuilding from divorce.

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Based in Brandon, Florida, Naida is the founder of Onset Horizon Counseling and is currently transitioning from solo practice into a group behavioral health practice. But behind the professional growth is a woman who has had to overcome the daily realities of being legally blind, rebuild from heartbreak, trauma, fear, and survival mode — all while helping her daughter adjust to a completely new life.

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Her fire is The Comeback — and her story is a reminder that sometimes the life you prayed for begins the moment you finally choose yourself, even when the road ahead is hard to see.

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Tell us your story. What have you overcome, rebuilt, created, survived, or stepped into?

Naida I. Sanchez: There are many parts to my story, but the most recent and impactful chapter was my divorce in April 2025 after 16 years of marriage. The divorce was long overdue because I had spent years fighting to make a marriage work that, deep down, I knew from the beginning should have never happened.

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For a long time, I convinced myself that what was happening was normal. I believed that marriage naturally came with ups and downs and that relationships required hard work. Still, part of me always knew something was not right. I stayed because I loved my stepdaughters and my daughter, because I wanted to keep my family together, and because I carried shame and embarrassment for allowing things to continue for so long. Another difficult truth was admitting that my family had been right all along.

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Throughout our marriage, there were both very good and very bad times. The physical abuse began while we were dating. I knew I should have walked away the first time it happened, but I was in love. I convinced myself it was a one-time incident, but it continued happening again and again, even the night before our wedding.

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On the day of our wedding, I remember breaking down while getting ready. A part of me wanted to call everything off, but I could not bring myself to do it. Everyone was there, everything had already been planned, and I did not want to embarrass my family. I excused his behavior because he struggled with untreated PTSD from his military service, and I wanted to believe things would eventually improve.

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In 2013, things escalated further when my ex was arrested for domestic violence after a serious altercation. Even then, I protected him. I lied to law enforcement and later went to the courthouse to file an affidavit stating I was not afraid of him so the no-contact order would be dropped. He later completed a VA program that allowed the charges to be dismissed.

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For a period of time, the physical violence stopped, but the emotional and verbal abuse continued. Then, after we moved to the west coast of Florida in 2017, the physical abuse returned. I minimized many of those incidents, convincing myself they were isolated or not “serious enough.” Each time, he would apologize, promise to change, and for a while things would improve — until the cycle repeated itself again.

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Over the last eight years of the marriage, there was significant emotional, verbal, and physical control, along with increasing isolation. Looking back now, I can clearly see patterns that I could not fully recognize while living through them.

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In 2024, everything finally reached a breaking point. My ex admitted that he had been flirting with our dog sitter, and although that hurt deeply, it was not even the betrayal itself that ended the marriage. What finally broke me was what happened afterward. I asked for space to process everything and figure out what I needed to do, but he refused to give me that space and instead blamed me for everything.

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During one of our final arguments, he pulled out a gun and threatened to hurt himself. My daughter became terrified and called my mother to come get us. The moment I knew my mother was on her way, I realized that was my opportunity to leave. I took it, and I never looked back.

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I left my home with nothing except my daughter and the clothes I was wearing. A few days later, I was finally able to retrieve some of my belongings after my ex was admitted to a psychiatric facility.

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Leaving was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but it also became the beginning of reclaiming my safety, my peace, and myself.

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I experienced a lot of highs and lows during the marriage and after the marriage. I began experiencing depression, anxiety, insomnia, and a lot of physiological health problems that did not have an explanation, and all testing was normal. After ending the marriage, I learned that all I was experiencing was a result of years of trauma and abuse.

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I lost my identity and who I was, the happy-go-lucky person. I drowned myself in work and went back to school to try to avoid what was going on in my life and help me cope.

I am still in the rebuilding stage of life. My daughter and I are living with my parents, and I am learning how to co-parent with the person who abused me. I am working to find the old version of myself that I miss, and even finding the best version of myself now in my 40s.

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At your lowest point, what did life feel like for you emotionally and mentally? When did you decide to make a change?

Naida I. Sanchez: At my lowest point, I felt like nothing was going to get better, like I deserved what was happening to me, and I felt worthless, weak, and undeserving of love.

I was ashamed of who I had become and how I let this happen to me for so long. I did not think that I would ever get out of the situation I was in. I even had times where I wondered if life was worth living.

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I decided to make a change on November 3, 2024, when I left and never looked back, and I didn’t cave into his promises of change he had made in the past.

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November 3, 2024, will be a day I will never forget, and the day when my life ended and started again.

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What did rebuilding your life actually look like day to day? What was the hardest part of starting over?

Naida I. Sanchez: My life, day to day, was hard at first. I was depressed and angry. I had to take some FMLA time from work because I could not get up, but I had to force myself to get up and be there for my daughter and help her as her life was changing drastically, and she was having a hard time.

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As I worked to get stronger, I started a new hobby. I focused on my therapy, finding things to make me happy, while going through the divorce process and learning my new normal.

I have had to learn that quiet is good and that I do not need to live in chaos or survival as I did in the past.

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The hardest part has been helping my daughter through this chapter of our lives, and the second hardest was being alone and learning to be alone.

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What is one life lesson you learned that other women need to hear?

Naida I. Sanchez: A life lesson I learned is that when you see a red flag in a relationship that can look pink, we need to heed the warning. No one deserves to be mistreated or abused, regardless of their past or situation.

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What quote, mantra, or scripture do you live by?

Naida I. Sanchez: I live by, “She believed she could, so she did.”

I also live by Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

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What advice would you give to a woman who feels stuck right now?

Naida I. Sanchez: You might feel stuck right now, but that does not mean you will be there permanently. Remember, this is a season in your life, and seasons come and go.

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Start taking small steps or making plans to make a change. Only you can change your life, and don’t be scared to reach out to your support system.

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You are not a burden, and all they want to do is help you.

 

What is one tip you would give to women building a business or career?

Naida I. Sanchez: Research, network, and do not be scared to take a leap of faith.

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What are you currently building, working on, or proud of?

Naida I. Sanchez: I am currently transitioning from a solo practice to a group behavioral health practice. I am also working on building a future for my daughter where I am debt-free, and giving my daughter a better life and future.

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Naida’s story is not just about divorce. It is about the moment a woman stops calling survival “normal” and starts choosing peace, safety, and healing.

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For years, she carried shame that was never hers to carry. She stayed for love, for family, for hope, and for the belief that things could change. But when the cycle became too heavy to keep surviving, she chose a different future — not only for herself, but for her daughter.

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Now, Naida is learning that quiet is not emptiness. It is peace. Being alone is not failure. It is freedom. Starting over is not weakness. It is proof that a woman can leave with almost nothing and still begin again with everything that matters.

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Her comeback is still unfolding, but one thing is clear: Naida did not just leave a marriage. She came back to herself.