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My Beautiful Detour: An Unthinkable Journey from Gutless to Grateful

Amy Oestreicher (Goodreads Author)

4.09 · Rating details · 11 ratings · 9 reviews

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 te 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. ...more

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Paperback, 536 pages

Published May 29th 2019 by Singing Tree Publishing

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Mar 10, 2021 Gabriele rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: related-to-intestinal-failure, all-time-favorite

I'm pretty split on this book.
On the one hand, I thought it was pretty great because I have a similar illness to the author, and actually don't know of any book that describes so accurately what that means. Amy Oestreicher describes very authentically how it feels to live with intestinal failure. And how to cope with it or to not cope with it. Sometimes I was very touched by her thoughts. So as for the medical and psychosocial descriptions, this book is one of my all-time favorites: 5 stars.
On I'm pretty split on this book.
On the one hand, I thought it was pretty great because I have a similar illness to the author, and actually don't know of any book that describes so accurately what that means. Amy Oestreicher describes very authentically how it feels to live with intestinal failure. And how to cope with it or to not cope with it. Sometimes I was very touched by her thoughts. So as for the medical and psychosocial descriptions, this book is one of my all-time favorites: 5 stars.
On the other hand, it bothers me a bit that the author emphasises again and again how insanely much she eats (she even tells us the amount of calories she consumes on a daily basis), how much food she carries with her every day, how much food she has to buy all the time...she emphasises, that eating is her favorite pastime, how her sandwiches have to be triple, quadruple topped, and how thin she stays in spite of. How less she weighs. That she passes out from being underweight (and from running around and exercising all the time). Sounds like the dream of an eating disordered person: look, I eat xxxxx calories and nothing is absorbed.
Fact: her extreme underweight is also caused by her messing around with her TPN. She lets her PICC line being pulled (several times), inspite of not being able to absorb the food she eats. I would never ever pull my PICC line, haha, joking, if one has intestinal failure he or she usually gets a port, because its insane to have a PICC line forever, because you get infections and sepsis quite easily. Which Ms Oestreicher got. And when it finally came to why this horrible event happened to her on Passover, why her digestive system perforated, I just thought, No. Your stomach does not explode because you are a survivor of sexual abuse. But your stomach might explode as a result of a massive eating disorder and extreme overeating. Just saying.
Don't get me wrong: all of this can happen to someone with intestinal failure. And it's also good to read that even with such a terrible disease, you're not a superhuman, you don't always behave rational, and you sometimes get into mischief. Sometimes it was just too much celebration of illness, eating and body weight for me. ...more

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Apr 16, 2020 Sharon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

#lovemydetour

I saw Amy speak 2 years ago and am glad I finally dedicated time to reading her book. She uses gratitude practice and art to help heal from sexual assault and so many medical issues and setbacks. I love her metaphor of embracing the detours in our lives and learning lessons from them.

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Jan 07, 2020 Esta Berman-price rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Poorly written, so many typos and grammatical errors and not

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Jan 26, 2021 Susan Levine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

One of the most inspirational books I have ever read.

Amy’s story is endearing, compelling, and emotional. I was captivated from beginning to end. I highly rate this book for young and old.

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Dec 26, 2019 BreeAnn (She Just Loves Books) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, memoir-personal-stories

What I Loved: I had this on my to-be-read list for January, but when I received it from the author, I just couldn’t wait to get started, so I put aside some other books on my list and pushed this one to the top. I’m so glad I did! My Beautiful Detour is a beautifully written story filled with heartache, loss, growth, and amazing strength. I was so impressed with the way this story was written. I felt sucked in and devastated for Amy, but it was so uplifting as well.

How I Felt: My Beautiful Detou What I Loved: I had this on my to-be-read list for January, but when I received it from the author, I just couldn’t wait to get started, so I put aside some other books on my list and pushed this one to the top. I’m so glad I did! My Beautiful Detour is a beautifully written story filled with heartache, loss, growth, and amazing strength. I was so impressed with the way this story was written. I felt sucked in and devastated for Amy, but it was so uplifting as well.

How I Felt: My Beautiful Detour is written telling the reader of Amy’s story from the beginning. We are introduced to her family and are given some insight into her years before the sexual abuse. The book then takes us through the abuse and then her unrelated medical tragedy. I really liked how when she is in the hospital, the story is written with comments from Amy, but also journal entries from her family that were written while she was going through procedures and during recovery.

During Amy’s recovery, she found solace and healing through art therapy and writing. She found a way to make a road to recovery that worked for her, piecing together her own ideas along with doctor and therapist recommendations. I liked this depiction of her recuperation as it really gave me a sense for how strong and determined Amy was. Her rehabilitation is beautifully written, giving insight into the personal struggles as well as the triumphs.

Content Warnings: Sexual abuse.

To Read or Not To Read: My Beautiful Detour is the perfect book for people looking for memoirs about overcoming life’s obstacles. While you may not have experienced Amy’s personal struggles, her overall strength is empowering and absolutely worth reading.

What's This Book About Anyway?
As a teenager, Amy Oestreicher is a bright, talented girl with a very promising musical talent. She is sexually abused during her late high school years by her music teacher and mentor. Her family was not the type of family that shared a lot, and she found herself keeping this story to herself, with no one to discuss the situation with. Then, her stomach explodes. She is rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Her family was right there, coming together to support her and give her strength. They play such an important role in her story, but Amy plays the most important role of all.

Amy’s story is one of spiritual belief, overcoming obstacles, and finding a path to recovery. It shows that everyone can find their way through life’s detours.

I received a copy of this advanced reader’s copy for free. I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

My review of this book will post on my blog on 12/30. All of my reviews can be found at: https://shejustlovesbooks.com/ ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Marilyn Wilson rated it really liked it

If you've been following my book reviews or personal writing, you will know I am strongly drawn to the stories of others. Reality TV is a MEH for me. It's listening to real people share their real stories that stirs my imagination and gives me goosebumps. So when I heard about My Beautiful Detour, I just had to read it.

The book starts by showing us the positive, bright, musically talented, over-the-top, buoyant child and then teen Amy was. Life was good and she had her future clearly mapped out ...more

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Jan 26, 2020 Jeffrey rated it it was amazing

This book is a journey of an amazing warrior from the hallways of a dreary hospital to a beautiful life as a Detourist. I was amazed by the content and enthralled by the positive theme running through the book. This is a tale of suspense, mystery, humanity, love, and of family. I loved the book. I bought the book through Amy's website to be sure and have a signed edition. I would recommend this reading for anyone that needs some positivity in their live. #Jewish Princess ...more

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Jan 24, 2020 Jennifer Hochberg rated it it was amazing

Such an inspiring book, with lessons that each of us can apply in our own lives! Very proud that the author, Amy Oestreicher, is from my hometown of Fairfield, CT! While her book was launched back in the summer of 2019, I found it to be the perfect read to start off 2020 with, and her story is incredible!

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Dec 15, 2019 The P.Turners added it

Shelves: blog-tour, k-2

Please see blog for [K]'s review: https://thepturnersbookblog.wordpress... ...more

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About Amy Oestreicher

Amy Oestreicher

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Amy Oestreicher is an Audie Award-nominated author, writer for The Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, award-winning actress, mixed media artist, songwriter and playwright. As a survivor and “thriver” of multiple traumas, Amy eagerly shares the gifts of life’s “beautiful detours” and the tremendous gifts that can be reaped from adversity. She has toured “Gutless & Gratefu Amy Oestreicher is an Audie Award-nominated author, writer for The Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, award-winning actress, mixed media artist, songwriter and playwright. As a survivor and “thriver” of multiple traumas, Amy eagerly shares the gifts of life’s “beautiful detours” and the tremendous gifts that can be reaped from adversity. She has toured “Gutless & Grateful,” her original one-woman musical autobiography, since its NYC debut in 2012, to conferences, theatres, colleges, and organizations nationwide, winning seven national awards. Amy has headlined international conferences on leadership, entrepreneurship, women’s rights, mental health, disability, creativity, and domestic violence prevention. She is a SheSource Expert, a “Top Mental Health” writer for Medium, and a regular lifestyle, wellness, and arts contributor for over 70 notable online and print publications, and and her story has appeared on NBC’s TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen Magazine, Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, MSNBC, among others.

Amy has delivered three TEDx talks on transforming trauma to Creative Growth, As a playwright, recent works include "More Than Ever Now," inspired by oral histories transcribed from three generations of survivors, and the multimedia musical, "Passageways: Songs of Connection, Abnormal & Sublime."

To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. Her passion for inclusion, equity and amplifying marginalized voices has earned her various honors, including a scholarship from the Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor Professionals, the first annual SHERocks HERstory National Performing Artist Honoree, a United Way Community Helper award, and a National Sexual Education Grant honor. To creatively engage student advocacy efforts, Amy developed a trauma-informed program combining mental health education, sexual assault prevention, and Broadway Theatre for college campuses, organizations and conferences. She has designed a creative curriculum for “Detourist Resiliency,” an outreach program taken to schools, hospitals, and at-risk youth. As a PTSD Specialist and multidisciplinary teaching artist, Amy is committed to honoring the arts as an integral part of education, self-empowerment and community.
Learn more at www.amyoes.com. ...more