April: Sexual Assault Awareness Month
CW/TW: SEXUAL ASSAULT
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and this is a message I want to share with anyone that is a survivor or wants to share this with a survivor. I don’t know if this will help but this is what I wished I heard when I was struggling.
It wasn’t your fault. It’s not your fault.
Regardless of what the voice in your head says, it’s not your fault.
It was never your fault.
You were taken advantage of, and that’s not your fault.
Regardless of the situation,
It.
Was.
Not.
Your.
Fault.
I don’t know everyone’s situation and I don’t think it’s the healthiest thing for me to imagine all of the horrible situations people could be going through, but regardless, this is a hard thing to go through.
But I know that you will heal.
You may likely have your triggers, but nevertheless, you will heal.
You.
Will.
Heal.
And there will come a day when what happened no longer has an effect on your life. When it is something you have moved on from in your story. It may never fully go away, there will be times when the memory still rears its ugly head, but it’s not your fault. These are the things that happen.
The most important thing you can do is forgive yourself. You don’t have to forgive them. You don’t have to forget it happened. But you have to forgive yourself. This is something where you can’t really forgive those that hurt you, and you don’t need to. And this is not something that you can really ever forget, the trauma may not let you. But you can forgive yourself. Forgiving yourself is the first step to healing.
You don’t have to believe that “everything happens for a reason” or that there was some lesson to be learned from this because this isn’t a case where that would apply. There are simply bad people in the world and you got hurt. And it is not your fault.
From one survivor to another, I believe in you and I love you. I’m sending you all the power in the world, and if you ever have a hard time, I believe in you and your power. You will heal and you will move on.