The Other Side Of Victim (Featured article in Women For One)

I am thrilled and honored to be featured in Women For One, a global community of women encouraging authenticity and inspiration.An excerpt:There’s nothing in life that prepares you for being a statistic. You can’t rehearse feeling used. To truly know the role of victim is to become one – and feel it from deep within. Yet, even as victims, we need not be marginalized by circumstance. We are not sub-totals of our horror stories, but rather, the embodiment of having survived them.There is a delicate balance of strength and suffering that, unless you’ve lived through it, is impossible to understand.So we share our experiences, seeking only compassion and understanding, with the hope others will find the strength to shine through their own personal darkness.It takes tremendous courage to live in our truth, no matter how many times we’ve tried to hide from it. There is freedom in our refusal to allow the weight of helplessness cloud our love of self. For it is there where we feel safe, nestled in the knowledge we are not alone.

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Please read the full article at Women For One, and share with anyone you know who has been a victim of sexual abuse - who you feel may be encouraged, would feel less alone with their own story, or is trying to heal.With love and gratitude,