Are You Drowning?: Overcoming in the Midst of Trauma and Loss

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

She didn’t know the answer, but she could tell you all about her plan to gain 150 credits in seven semesters so that she could sit for the Certified Public Accountant Exam. Everything she thought mattered had just come crashing down when a water cooler fell and hit her on the head at a college party.

A personal account of injury, depression, growth, life, and healing, Are You Drowning? chronicles Jenna Shotmeyer’s uphill battle of recovering from a traumatic brain injury that took place at the start of her college career. Jenna had her entire life planned out, her career goals defined, and a spot on her college tennis team when it all got pulled out from under her. The tides of her life rose after her injury left her unable to do basic tasks. She was tossed into a sea of uncertainty, but her faith and hope were a lifeboat.

In this story of healing, Jenna recounts fighting for her life like she used to fight the current. Her injury was a riptide that swept her away into the throes of comparison, confusion, and disappointment until she almost drowned in it. Through faith, she found herself on a journey to an unsinkable identity. With parallel stories of hope and recovery, she recounts the details of her injury, the shattering of her former identity, countless doctor appointments, the strength of her family, and ultimately, her healing.

Jenna Shotmeyer is a New England-based writer, speaker, and artist. Ever since she was a child, spending time near the ocean at the New Jersey Shore has given her a lens to understand her own ups and downs. Now, nearly ten years after the accident that changed the trajectory of her life, she is passionate about helping others find their true identity, worth, purpose, hope, and freedom like she found in Christ.