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The moment you know that you’re changed, truly is learning you’re not alone.
So this is a year ago, outside at the café that has already closed for the night:
Sitting across from me is a woman who is a holding a draft of my play.
Yes, I read that she’s running a program for survivors of child sexual abuse…
But she’s here, and she looks at me, straight in the eyes, and says:
Joe, have you ever shared your story – with anyone?
No, is the only thing I can muster.
And she starts telling hers…
It is like I am struck by lightning – she is sharing her truth, pain, how she suffered…
But what I feel is mine, swelling up, deep inside me.
And then I start to speak, not in words, but a torrent of pain, shame, and suffering.
And it keeps pouring out!
She has reached out her hand, and I clasp, grateful.
Then she tells me, “What it feels like is, in your play, you are holding you back. We need to hear your voice. You’re a survivor.”
This word, I know, carries power.
It’s the start of a my first conscious journey to heal – because I never even knew that I needed it!
So weird to look at the myriad ways that it’s messed up my life, but the hurt has been buried so deep within I did not even notice the impact that it has been having for decades!
So I think through it now, the affect of the trauma, and what we can find on this crazy journey to heal…
Not to make it to go away, disappear like it never happened, but to hopefully place it somewhere where it is no longer poisoning our lives.
So that we can enjoy the simple things that we love, with our friends, with our passions, feel more present, make plans for the future!
Hope you can join me this week for the podcast on flipping our story of trauma from feeling of less to the feeling of MORE
You’re a survivor, my friend, and no matter what life is putting you through, please know – you deserve!!
We are in this together:
If you are looking for a pick me up, check out my brand new book on thriving in times of uncertainty:
