Disclaimers, Disclosures and Stuff of Significance!!
I've ummm... done some remodeling to the Journal.
So now that I've finally placed the story I've been wanting to tell on this Journal, it seems to have taken over. However, this is not my intention. The fact that I'm a survivor of abuse is only ONE aspect of my personality. Among other things, I am still very much a skeptic, an artist, a lesbian, a progressive liberal, an atheist, a home owner, a college graduate, a tattoo canvas, a human rights activist, a motorcyclist, a pescatarian, and the damn lucky wife of the ever so sexy Johnny O.
The Journal will evolve to a level of balance and harmony between all aspects of my life with a little time. Right now I've opened a bit of a flood gate, and so abuse subjects are taking up considerable real estate. And they will always take up their share of real estate from now on here on this journal, but they will not always dominate the screen as you see it now. The current state is certainly temporary.
I also want to stress that I am not any sort of a doctor, psychiatrist, social worker, volunteer social worker or psychologist... I'm not even a psyche student. I'm just opinionated. That's all.
I will write a bunch of stuff about healing from abuse, but it is not because I have any intention of ministering to other Survivors. There is a sheer lack of quality information about abuse recovery. I applaud anybody that starts a website with the intention of creating a venue for Survivors or to facilitate resources for Survivors. While I may include resources and share information, this is not because I have any intention of imagining my own experiences becoming some oracle for other Survivors. I am not qualified by any means. Also, if I were to focus too much on what is good for other Survivors in their healing, I believe it would be easy to lose track of what is best for me and my healing.
Abuse recovery is deeply intimate and personal- everybody has their own individual path to health. Of the available information regarding recovery, I've found heaps of it to be scattered, inadequate, and unresearched. A lot of it appears to be made up. I think that much of the information that is out there was created by other Survivors in an effort to fill a giant and obvious void. We're all just trying to find peace. And I know that there are some strong convictions out there about healing and recovery. I have my own too. I welcome discussion, I'm a data-head, and I like research. But this Journal will also remain my safe haven, so nasty-grams aren't allowed, no matter how wrong any reader thinks I am.
Still- I don't believe in telling a Survivor that they must heal a certain way- if that way has never been researched, peer reviewed, time tested, and endorsed by a significant and highly respected majority of mental health professionals. This includes anything that requires a Survivor to pray, forgive, be "hypnotized", surrender to a "higher power", recover "memories", or discover "alternate personalities".
Abuse Survivors have been through enough. Some of us would just like a reasonable assessment of the damage and to be able to apply practical, real-world solutions to help us with what we emotionally encounter.
The posts that I make about Survivor issues will speak of what I've been able to practically apply. Their main goal will be for me to continue to maintain this journal as a personal historical record- one that includes this part of my life. These journal entries will also be available for me to reference later, as I continue my own path toward psychological health.
Final note... This has been implied in the paragraphs above, but I want to make it clear: I am still recovering. The stuff I write may not be helpful to other Survivors at all. I don't have answers, nearly as much as I have questions.
And I have nothing but respect and the best of wishes to every person that has had similar experiences... and similar questions. In some ways, a Survivor will know me better the first moment we meet than some of my best friends will know me after years.
Peace.
So now that I've finally placed the story I've been wanting to tell on this Journal, it seems to have taken over. However, this is not my intention. The fact that I'm a survivor of abuse is only ONE aspect of my personality. Among other things, I am still very much a skeptic, an artist, a lesbian, a progressive liberal, an atheist, a home owner, a college graduate, a tattoo canvas, a human rights activist, a motorcyclist, a pescatarian, and the damn lucky wife of the ever so sexy Johnny O.
The Journal will evolve to a level of balance and harmony between all aspects of my life with a little time. Right now I've opened a bit of a flood gate, and so abuse subjects are taking up considerable real estate. And they will always take up their share of real estate from now on here on this journal, but they will not always dominate the screen as you see it now. The current state is certainly temporary.
I also want to stress that I am not any sort of a doctor, psychiatrist, social worker, volunteer social worker or psychologist... I'm not even a psyche student. I'm just opinionated. That's all.
I will write a bunch of stuff about healing from abuse, but it is not because I have any intention of ministering to other Survivors. There is a sheer lack of quality information about abuse recovery. I applaud anybody that starts a website with the intention of creating a venue for Survivors or to facilitate resources for Survivors. While I may include resources and share information, this is not because I have any intention of imagining my own experiences becoming some oracle for other Survivors. I am not qualified by any means. Also, if I were to focus too much on what is good for other Survivors in their healing, I believe it would be easy to lose track of what is best for me and my healing.
Abuse recovery is deeply intimate and personal- everybody has their own individual path to health. Of the available information regarding recovery, I've found heaps of it to be scattered, inadequate, and unresearched. A lot of it appears to be made up. I think that much of the information that is out there was created by other Survivors in an effort to fill a giant and obvious void. We're all just trying to find peace. And I know that there are some strong convictions out there about healing and recovery. I have my own too. I welcome discussion, I'm a data-head, and I like research. But this Journal will also remain my safe haven, so nasty-grams aren't allowed, no matter how wrong any reader thinks I am.
Still- I don't believe in telling a Survivor that they must heal a certain way- if that way has never been researched, peer reviewed, time tested, and endorsed by a significant and highly respected majority of mental health professionals. This includes anything that requires a Survivor to pray, forgive, be "hypnotized", surrender to a "higher power", recover "memories", or discover "alternate personalities".
Abuse Survivors have been through enough. Some of us would just like a reasonable assessment of the damage and to be able to apply practical, real-world solutions to help us with what we emotionally encounter.
The posts that I make about Survivor issues will speak of what I've been able to practically apply. Their main goal will be for me to continue to maintain this journal as a personal historical record- one that includes this part of my life. These journal entries will also be available for me to reference later, as I continue my own path toward psychological health.
Final note... This has been implied in the paragraphs above, but I want to make it clear: I am still recovering. The stuff I write may not be helpful to other Survivors at all. I don't have answers, nearly as much as I have questions.
And I have nothing but respect and the best of wishes to every person that has had similar experiences... and similar questions. In some ways, a Survivor will know me better the first moment we meet than some of my best friends will know me after years.
Peace.