Healing Journey

In (month) last year I reported my sexual assault to the guards. It’s been a long year and trying to wrap my head around things and process what is happening along side everyday life can be difficult. I’ve found regular therapy sessions vital for my own mental health. I’ve discovered that the emotions are like waves. Some days you feel so empowered and others you feel low. This is totally normal and once I realised others also feel like this I began to accept my low days as healing days too. There’s been lots of news stories around gender-based violence and abuse over the last year. These can be triggering for me so I’ve chosen to be selective in what I watch/read or listen to. I do follow a couple of survivors on social media. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone and others feel the way I do too even if their assault was not the same as mine. There can be a loneliness to assault even when others know about it I still feel like I am on my own dealing with it and knowing that there’s others who feel similar to me is really helpful. An important thing for me is knowing that although I was sexually assaulted it’s not my entire story. And the more I speak about it the less of a hold it has on me. Healing isn’t a linear journey, there will be ups and downs.