After struggling with agoraphobia for more than two decades, Paula says she woke up one day and took her life back.

"The Serenity Prayer went through my head," she says. "I'd heard it all my life, [but] this particular morning I said, 'Wow, that's what I'm supposed to be asking God for.' It made my life so much easier. In fact, that Serenity Prayer does not leave my head. … 'Paula, forget the things that you can't change. Forget it. Let it go.'"

Paula says that when her parents passed away at an early age, her sense of security died with them. "[My brother] and I lost our parents very young," she says. "We [had] this fabulous childhood, very secure. Then, boom, boom…they were dead."

When Paula learned to accept her and her children's inevitable deaths, she says she was able to start living again.