Have you ever felt like you weren’t good enough? For many of us, a sense of low self-esteem is a bi-product of abuse. Negative self-talk and comparing ourselves to others can be a form of internal self-mutilation; abusing ourselves by …
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abuse
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We’ve been taught that we’re not allowed to feel angry. We’re told that if we are angry we’ll harm ourselves or others. We’ve been called names and told we’re crazy and unstable if we’re angry. Societal and cultural norms seek …
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Unfulfilled expectations, loneliness, and insecurity can lead to resentments and isolation. Self-pity is an all too familiar feeling for survivors. Maya Angelou wrote, “Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does …
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Much of our sense of personal beauty can be knotted up in the views of others in our lives, and the beauty myths, comparisons, and marketing in the media. We have been manipulated by both to hand over our power, …
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Facing the winter holidays can be daunting to anyone, especially if you’re exhausted and nearing burn-out. The looming specter of faking holiday cheer is cringeworthy at best, particularly whilst trying to keep the peace if the voices inside your head …
Read more →Where we meet the archetypal savior, move from the pedophile’s house, and then everything goes to shit again. 2. An Angel the Size of a Mountain Dad’s Place (2-4 Houston, Texas) I’m told I was two and a half, …
Read more →Intro By sharing these stories with you I delve deep within myself to uncover pieces of a person I thought could be hidden away. It’s in the revealing of our tabooed existence that we truly begin to take form in …
Read more →A piece on the personal archeology of victim blaming and the exclusion of survivors as actors in social change and healing. She sat at her desk, Me, staring at the curtain patterns behind her head, Wide eyed and eager to …
Read more →A reader writes in asking for guidance in how to raise children in a situation where one of the parents is in active addiction. Amanda Lee introduces the reader to the concept that alcoholism does not only affect the alcoholic, but …
Read more →Have you ever struggled to find the “right words” or the strength to say No? You are not alone. Trying to regulate the reactions and emotions of others is a common trait for those who have survived trauma and abuse. …
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