V, what a difference between your first and second posts! Good for YOU!
And yes - reinvention can be wonderfully empowering. I found just simple changes...driving a different route to work, buying some new clothes, taking up a new hobby or sport, made me feel much better and brand "new" in that sense. Then I started taking bigger steps...and bigger. And it keeps getting better and better!
Keep it up...life is so much better now for me and my daughters being away from that tornado.