Surviving Abuse

Cut from http://www.child-abuse-effects.com

--- testimony of an abused child who has already grown

It takes time...

 It takes time. That's the only thing I can say about everything I've learned from healing. I'm thankful I've never been sexually abused, but I was physically and emotionally abused. I came from an incredibly broken and controlling family and used to get hit as a lot as a kid. I even had cans thrown at me (like cans of green beans and other assorted foods).

That's why I went into therapy

One day I had finally had enough of the unhappiness and craziness and I somehow found the frame of mind to enroll in therapy as a young man. I went in there just wanting to be happy again. I'd been suffering from a lot of depression brought on by a lack of solid social support as well as a chaotic home life. By this time, there wasn't nearly as much hitting only because I had grown strong enough to defend myself.

And that was the start of a long and winding road...

I began learning how to trust again. I slowly started peeling away the layers of anger and began freeing myself from the psychological chains that had kept me down for so long. It's still sometimes tough talking about it after all this time.

But it does get better

Eventually I made some great friends along the way, and that's brought me a long way. I feel much happier. And I realized that while the pain recedes, the abuse is a part of your life. It's an experience that stays with you and shapes you to a certain extent.

It surprises me as I write this but...

While there's a part of me that wonders what it might be like not to have been abused, I accept it and have moved on with my life. In my mind, the best thing you can do as a survivor is to live the best possible life you can.

That's what I've tried to do

And I'm still learning. I've done volunteer work in the court system to assist in cases of child abuse.

It takes time

I'm getting there. And so can any abuse survivor.