Rise Relentless – My Journey of Struggle, Survival, and Redemption
I was born and raised in a small town in Wisconsin, where life looked simple on the outside but felt complicated on the inside. I carried big dreams and a restless spirit, but like many people who seem “fine” to the world, I was fighting storms no one could see.
My early years were defined by searching, searching for belonging, for purpose, for something to quiet the chaos inside of me. That search led me to the military, where I thought I’d find discipline and a greater mission. But the fiercest battles I would fight weren’t on any battlefield, they were inside myself.
Addiction crept into my life, and before I knew it, everything unraveled. Eventually, my choices led me to prison. To some, that sounds like the end of the story. But for me, prison was both rock bottom and the beginning of transformation. Stripped of freedom, I had to decide: would I let shame and regret define me forever, or would I rise again?
The deepest pain of those years wasn’t incarceration itself, it was being separated from my two sons. My oldest, I haven’t seen since he was only a year and a half. My youngest I see when I can. They are both happy and healthy, and that’s the one thing that gives me peace. I hold onto the hope of embracing them again when they turn 18. That reality cuts deep, but it also fuels my determination to become the kind of mother they can be proud of, even from a distance.
Rebuilding wasn’t easy. It never is. In my thirties, I went back to school and am on my final semester to obtain my master's in Management Information Systems. That degree isn’t just an achievement, it's a declaration that I'm not broken beyond repair, that it’s never too late to start again.
Web design became my craft. Building websites for small businesses and entrepreneurs gave me a sense of creation and purpose. In a way, each site I build is a metaphor for my own life; taking raw material and shaping it into something functional, beautiful, and alive. You can see my work at www.kacieturley.com.
I’m also an artist, and painting has been another outlet for me to process emotion and channel energy. My work carries a cosmic, high-frequency feel, filled with sacred geometry and raw expression, reminders that beauty can be born even from struggle. Like my web design, my art is about transformation: taking chaos and reshaping it into something meaningful.
But my healing has never been just about career or education. It has been about reclaiming myself and learning how to love and live again. Fitness, art, and spirituality grounded me when everything felt uncertain. Tattoos also became part of my healing, each piece etched into my skin carries a story, a scar turned into art, a reminder of where I’ve been and the strength it took to keep going. They are living proof that pain can be transformed into beauty, that I can choose what stays with me and how I carry it.
And love gave me a new foundation.
Today, I share my life with my boyfriend Nick, a man whose strength and support remind me every day that love can be healing. With him came his two daughters, who have become family to me. I may not be raising my own boys right now, but I am grateful for the gift of being present in the lives of these two amazing young girls. Blending families isn’t simple, but it has shown me that family is not just about blood; it’s about love, presence, and the commitment to show up.
These experiences led me to writing. My first book, Rise Relentless, is a raw and motivational guide born out of pain and perseverance. It’s about refusing to stay down and learning how to rise stronger, no matter how many times you fall. https://a.co/d/13eutUy
But Rise Relentless is only the beginning. I’m now writing a full memoir that will tell the unfiltered story: addiction, prison, motherhood, military service, heartbreak, tattoos as healing, and the love that brought me into a new chapter. It won’t be neat, and it won’t be sanitized, but it will be real. Because our scars are not meant to be hidden; they are proof that we survived.
Today, I stand in a place I never thought I’d reach. I’m sober. I’m free. I create, I design, I write. I’m building businesses and books. I wear my art and my story on my skin. I’m part of a family. My life is not perfect, but it’s mine, and every day I choose to live it relentlessly.
I share my story not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary. We all carry battles the world can’t see. And sometimes, hearing someone else’s truth is the reminder we need to keep going. If my journey inspires even one person to rise relentlessly, then every scar, every tattoo, and every setback has been worth it.
- Kacie Turley, Founder of Kinetic Takeover
Kacie’s book, Rise Relentless is available here:
