A year ago, I wrote my first post on this blog. I had no idea back then how important blogging would become in my life. I couldn’t have anticipated how much this community would one day mean to me.

This space allows me to breathe. It is so valuable to have a place where I can say exactly what’s on my mind. I don’t have to put up barriers or stick on a brave face. There is no reason for me to be anything but real here.

And the best part is that you lovely people who read my words value me for what’s real. You don’t ask me to entertain you or fix anything for you. You make no demands. You’re just out there, listening and reading and you don’t even know who I am. It doesn’t matter to you what I look like, what car I drive or where I work. That’s so amazing and so unusual in this life.

The other thing is that interacting with other survivors through this site has been hugely validating. I spent two decades alone with the secret that I had been abused. Alone with the shame and the swill of awful feelings attached to those memories. I doubted myself and my experience. I assumed it couldn’t have been all that bad and I didn’t have a right to feel what I felt. Hearing from all those other survivors out there has been both encouraging and reassuring.

So thank you to all of you who share such genuine words in your posts, for helping create this open space in which we can all be authentic. Thank you for reading my ramblings, and for your thoughtful comments and emails. Every time someone takes the time to share their thoughts on what I’ve written it means a great deal to me. I am truly grateful to you all.

Photo: Kristin, Creative Commons.