Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Let's Talk

Hello dear listeners, I am excited to share this small update on all the good things happening when one puts all of their effort into their recovery.Five years ago I decided to take over my life and make of it was I wanted it to be. It has been a lot, and I mean a LOT of work to get where I am, and although my life is not perfect, nor I expect it to be, I am in a better place in my life. I feel strong, safe(r), grounded, happier and at peace, I hope to continue adding the work needed to and conquering any unexpected and delicate aspects of this great experience called life.I have written a book! Please hear a bit about it and perhaps get it for yourself or for someone you know.You are loved.

Time has come for me to say good bye, not without sharing more experiences in hopes that you relate to them and they are helpful in your recovery journey. Thank you everyone for being there for me and I hope you embrace your gifts. You are amazing, you are strong and you are loved.

I speak about my emotional experience during my last trip to the. country where most of my trauma took place, how I prepared -or thought I did- and what were the ups & downs of this, all in the context of sexual abuse trauma.

Let me share my thoughts about the important topic of TRUST. Such a difficult feeling to incorporate into our lives, but one that we can reclaim to continue in our recovery journey.

How does your responses to trauma affect your life? Can you change these reactions? What can you do?

Let's talk about the coping mechanisms we can use: the good and positive ones that can help us become the person we were supposed to be -a strong human that can take on each day; and the "escape-from-my-pain" mechanisms that bring even more difficulty to our existence in the end.

Sharing my experience on how being empathetic and protecting myself has evolved, being vulnerable and more thoughts on sharing our history of abuse and trauma.

We normally think of grief as a process one must go through when someone we know dies. When we were assaulted, abused, raped and attacked, our childhood, our innocence, our potential for a different life, our power and many desires were taken away from us, so it only makes sense that we also grief for what we lost.

I will read some poetry from survivors who posted their talent through their written word. I found that these amazing people can help us through the connection we have of surviving abuse. We all have different talents and even if we think we don't have them sometimes all we need to do is just to talk and we will inspire others.

This question has been in my mind for as long as I can remember, and I suspect that many of you want to understand why it feels like we have a target on our backs, noticeable by sexual predators.My friend Courtney, who is a survivor and Social Worker, currently working in her dissertation, has studied the subject at length and shares her knowledge with us here. She also talks about the importance of Consent and introduces us to: https://www.cultivatingconsent.com/

I had a lot in my mind and decided to talk about different topics. I've talked about 3 of them before, but I didn't talk about alternative healing in the past. I hope it is helpful to you in some way.

Dr. Betsy Kanarowsky is an expert on sex abuse and works for the Saprea organization, she and I talked about what the organization offers to survivors in particular about the retreat that I have experienced. I also asked her a couple of questions about recovery timing, coming out to speak about our trauma and what therapies may work best... take a listen!https://[email protected]

Being a survivor of sexual abuse and having the history I have, I always wondered how overprotective I was of my kids. I was called paranoid, crazy, overprotective plus other things by their father when they were growing up, so I thought I over did my care and watch over them, well, let's hear from one of my children!

Things change unexpectedly and our plans change a bit. The episode I had plan for this weekend has been replaced by a short reflection on how important it is to find a support system.

My friend Nicole and I will be sharing what we have learnt about the effects of the sexual abuse to our physical health.Please remember that we are not in the medical field and the opinions and experiences we share here are based on our background as survivors.

I want to end the year on a positive note (as much as possible) and tell you how my year went and share my hopes for 2023. I hope this episode is of some inspiration and perhaps turns on a switch that shows the light to a better tomorrow.

I will be talking about different situations when anger has been present in my journey of recovery. When anger has been a part of processing my emotions, and how I feel that Anger it is an important "ingredient" for growing out of the pain that survivors go through when assaulted, abused or raped.

My friend Tina is joining again! We chose to talk about triggers in this episode. We also got to talking about our experience attending a retreat and focused on the positive part of it... if you are not having a good day, you may find the upbeat of this part of the conversation helpful, or you may actually find it triggering, I certainly hope it is the first. Take a listen, I hope that no matter what, the shared words are helpful.

I chose who I share my personal history with. I decide who I don't want to share with or hear from it. Remembering why I chose not sharing with some people, but still appreciating that they may love me even if they don't understand what happened to me.

These are my thoughts about fear and where it comes from. How it shows up in my life and how I've been working on managing its constant showing up.

I have my first guest! My friend Tina is joining me on an informal conversation about Hope & Faith.

How did shame, fear and shyness come out after your childhood abuse?

In this first episode I will talk about what I remember of how the sexual abuse started in my life and give a bit of light of how it shaped some of my relationships.

In this brief intro, I will tell you about my history and why I decided to start this podcast.