Hi LiteraryLark, thanks for sharing with us members here how you got to a point where you realized your lifestyle was not working for you and even though it was hard you decided to make changes. Please find your way to realizing that when you walk the halls and are not sure about feeling shame that you could not function and made the change you made, there is really NOTHING to feel shame about.

Right now, you are probably not ready to realize you actually did conquer something very important. Often, it takes time to realize how important your decisions really were. This doesn't mean you can't be a leader either, what it means is you can't do it the way you had tried to do it. And quite honestly, it doesn't matter if someone else is trying to take credit for whatever you did, the important thing is you were able to do whatever you did. Unfortunately, there are "shallow" people out there that don't care about getting whatever they get on the back of others. It sounds like you were an enabler because this other person is not willing to give you respect for what you did, instead they are being selfish and taking credit for something they did not achieve themselves.

The important thing to take away from all of this is you have actually achieved A LOT. You are not really giving up either, what you ARE giving up are the things that held you back.