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Survivor story

Too young

Original story

Message to a Survivor

Hope can mean a lot of different things to different people hope can be found in therapies, some find it in god or religion and others may find it in other people understanding them or you understanding yourself. i used to think there was no hope for me. i have recently found it in someone who is very close to me. i built up the courage to share my story because i was at my breaking point and thought all hope was lost. just sharing my story with this person and hearing them say they want to help gave it to me. it was simple for me though, it may be difficult for others but it is always there i promise.

Message of Healing

healing to me means starting a new chapter. Healing is scary and you have to be strong to start the process. I feel like people who have not experienced sexual assault don't really understand this. in order to heal you have to face what has happened to you and work with yourself to get through the damage that it caused. for some, it could be a short process but for others, it's very long and difficult. Even though healing may be scary it is necessary to survive or else the trauma will eat you alive. So healing to me is finding the willpower to accept and move forward.

i am sharing my story here because i need to be honest with myself about what happened to me. i have told a few others about what has happened to me but i always lie about who did it, saying i don't remember because i am too embarrassed to actually say who it was and i am hoping that maybe by doing this i will find some sense of self. it started when i was about in fourth grade i was maybe nine, and ended when i was in 8th grade i was 13. My twin brother was my assaulter. it started out as something i thought as innocent. he called it a game. he would call the game "butt sniffers".in the beginning he would have me lay on my stomach, fully clothed and he would lay on top of me with his face on my butt. it would last about two minutes and then he would say game over. mind you, i was young and had no idea what sex was at all or anything sexual so i thought it was my brother being weird. as the years went on the game progressed. next he would have me take my pants off so i was in my underwear and he would stay there longer. at this point i would start saying no because i knew that something was wrong with this. it made me feel dirty and uncomfortable. he started blackmailing me in a way to keep doing it. my father was very abusive so he would threaten to tell my dad i failed a test, said a cuss word etc if i didn't do what he wanted. i would cry and he still wouldnt care. it progressed into my underwear being completely off at this point and years later towards the end of the abuse he would have m completely naked bent over rubbing his penis on my vagina and inserting the tip. it was an almost everyday thing. me crying telling him to stop but him saying if i didnt listen to him he was going to tell on me to my dad. to me at the time, whatever my brother was doing to me was better than being beat because atleast i wasnt in phyical pain but i didn't realize the emotional pain that this would cause me then and later in life. i never told on him fo what he as doing because i was embarrassed and ashamed. all of what he did to me lead to me dating sexually abusive men through my highschool years. i was raped again by my freshman year boyfriend. he held me down n the bed covering my mouth so i didn't make a sound as he forced himself in me while i was crying trying to push him away. i am 19 now and finally decided that i am going to seek help. my appearances with rape have caused me severe psychological issues. i have GAD, PTSD, and major depressive disorder. i feel hopeless all the time and never think things will ever get better. i hope that one day i will be at peace with this and find happiness.

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Grounding activity

Find a comfortable place to sit. Gently close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths - in through your nose (count to 3), out through your mouth (count of 3). Now open your eyes and look around you. Name the following out loud:

5 – things you can see (you can look within the room and out of the window)

4 – things you can feel (what is in front of you that you can touch?)

3 – things you can hear

2 – things you can smell

1 – thing you like about yourself.

Take a deep breath to end.

From where you are sitting, look around for things that have a texture or are nice or interesting to look at.

Hold an object in your hand and bring your full focus to it. Look at where shadows fall on parts of it or maybe where there are shapes that form within the object. Feel how heavy or light it is in your hand and what the surface texture feels like under your fingers (This can also be done with a pet if you have one).

Take a deep breath to end.

Ask yourself the following questions and answer them out loud:

1. Where am I?

2. What day of the week is today?

3. What is today’s date?

4. What is the current month?

5. What is the current year?

6. How old am I?

7. What season is it?

Take a deep breath to end.

Put your right hand palm down on your left shoulder. Put your left hand palm down on your right shoulder. Choose a sentence that will strengthen you. For example: “I am powerful.” Say the sentence out loud first and pat your right hand on your left shoulder, then your left hand on your right shoulder.

Alternate the patting. Do ten pats altogether, five on each side, each time repeating your sentences aloud.

Take a deep breath to end.

Cross your arms in front of you and draw them towards your chest. With your right hand, hold your left upper arm. With your left hand, hold your right upper arm. Squeeze gently, and pull your arms inwards. Hold the squeeze for a little while, finding the right amount of squeeze for you in this moment. Hold the tension and release. Then squeeze for a little while again and release. Stay like that for a moment.

Take a deep breath to end.