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Reflection: Learning to Love Yourself
A Poem
I wrote my first full collection of poetry as a response to the abuse I endured in a past relationship. I knew there were other survivors out there, some of them even victims of my abusers. I felt compelled to do something to put a stop to the on-going abuse. I knew my words had sliced down other abusers in my life and decided to give it a try.
I reread old poems, cried, wrote so many poems, and curated a collection I felt told the whole story — hence me naming the book The Whole Story. Once the book was complete, I reached out to the girls who were potentially abused by the same person as me. I really just wanted others to feel seen, and to finally see myself in a way that I could heal.
I sent each of the other survivors a copy of my book and was blown away by their support. One even said “Reading this was almost as if you took the words right out of my head, and perfectly captured them in writing… I can’t even begin to describe how validating it was.”
That made every bit of effort and fears and honest I had put into my poems and that book worth it. Beyond worth it. Suddenly, I was being flooded by messages from survivors all over the country, at the hands of so many different people. While it broke my heart to hear how many people related to my story, I was humbled and grateful that they…
