Message to a Survivor
Your pain, your strength, your story, and your experiences are so real and so valid. You are not alone. I may not know you but I care about you and I care about your story. You do not have to carry it alone.
Yesterday, today, or tomorrow may be difficult, but you have survived every moment up until now and you will make it through. You did not deserve what happened to you and it should never have happened at all. But you are so much more than what happened to you. You are a whole person with ideas, goals, talents, humor, love, and so much more. You are not your trauma.
Message of Healing
Healing is ongoing. Healing is a rollercoaster. Healing can feel frustrating and powerful and ugly and beautiful. Healing is surviving another day. Healing is finding strength even when you think you don’t have any (because you always do, it’s already in you).
I was first raped when I was 14 years old, by a classmate. I didn’t know it was rape for almost 10 years. I was raped again when I was 20 years old, by a friend in my dorm on campus. I’m now 28 years old and work as an educator, counselor and advocate for interpersonal violence prevention. I have been searching for a place to share my story without having to share my identity (thank you endlessly EROC/It’s On Us for this space). I have so much to share but even more so I hope whoever is reading this knows they’re not alone.