Cheryl Burke Shares How She’s Getting Closer to Her “Authentic Self”

Cheryl Burke is taking life one day at a time.

The Dancing with the Stars pro, who celebrated four years of sobriety in August shared how she still growing and evolving in her journey in a lengthy, heartfelt message on Instagram

“I’ve spent most of my life looking through a glass box that was and still is a part of my life at times,” she said in the Oct. 18 post in part. “Especially when I’m not consciously aware. However, this wasn’t always a bad thing—it kept me alive and safe in times of desperate need but I’ve come to realize that continuing to put myself in that box only brought more loneliness, pain and fear.”

Burke explained how she used her addiction to numb her fears but how she eventually realized that she had to face them instead of hide from them.

“Four years ago when I decided to stop drinking, I’m realizing I’m left with peeling back layers, which has ultimately made me get closer to the core of my being, my authentic self,” the dancer wrote. “What comes with choosing this path though, is that I’m living with fears I’ve never felt before, fears I’m completely foreign to, that I never knew I had, and that I never wanted to face.”