“We weren’t sure what places would be unwelcoming to people who look like us and didn’t find any resources. So, in October of 2019, we decided to be that resource.”
- Love What Matters
- Trauma & Healing
“We weren’t sure what places would be unwelcoming to people who look like us and didn’t find any resources. So, in October of 2019, we decided to be that resource.”
“She continued, ‘Please know it had nothing to do with you.’ I’d been waiting my entire life to hear those words. The hug she gave me seemed to last forever. It was truly out of a Lifetime movie.”
“I’ve rebuilt myself bit by bit. I’m brave, independent, and strong. I have forgiven myself for letting him hurt me.”
“A girl with a clear intellectual disability came up to me and said, ‘Are you ok? Did you hurt yourself?’ I responded, ‘I’m okay. But yes, I did.’ She looked at me and my prosthetics and said, ‘I’m so sorry. Take better care of yourself next time.’”
“What I would give just cradle your petite, warm body one more time.”
“‘I’m sorry, I’m not detecting a heartbeat.’ What followed is a blur. I recall Reece shouting NO repeatedly, but I stayed silent. The world seemed to stop, and I felt like I was watching myself on a TV screen.”
“All these thoughts, feelings, and meanings you have belong to the perpetrator, who managed to download them onto you by way of the abuse. They’re not part of you, and once you really understand that, all those feelings and beliefs about yourself can disappear just as quickly as they were formed.”
“I poured everything into my salon and my family as a way to avoid my pain. My clients would compliment me on my ‘beautiful smile.’ My thoughts were, ‘If they only knew what was inside my head.’”
“I began to have dreams viewing life in my absence, being forced to watch my son struggle to make sense of his alcoholic mother. A mother who could never get sober. Those dreams changed something inside of me.”
“He was everything I had ever wanted. Charming, sweet, successful, and he was head over heels in love with me. I was so happy on our wedding day, but my happiness was short-lived. Afterwards he said to me, ‘Now you’re mine and I own you.’ Things changed dramatically.”