My Lady Quilts are leaving the basement again, they have another appearance scheduled. RAINN (Rape, Assault, Incest, National Network) will be held at Michigan Tech's Fisher Hall at 7:30 on September 27....tomorrow evening. I will be on the panel, there will a film shown and I will do a brief talk. The quilts will be on display...
They want me to talk about support and what is helpful....and I have thought about this from many angles and I believe ANY action towards speaking out is a move in the right direction.
I believe that most people think, "speaking out" is to go public with your very private information. When in fact, it is to speak about it to someone who you feel will listen and be a compassionate listener.
What I know of Tom Rosemurgy, is that he will not expect you to go public, to take this person to court, but rather to just put your voice to what happened.
While I know many believe, that if you know it, it is enough. But, keeping it in and not sharing it, makes it a secret.
Listening to Iyanla talk about family secrets and how it is there to protect someone...in the case of physical and sexual abuse within a family...the child/adult child is protecting the abusive parent.
You are as sick as your secret was another line in the discussion. How keeping quiet and not airing your family's secret comes with a physical, emotional cost to you.
Dial Help and Tom Rosemurgy are not expecting you to go down a certain path, but they want to help you let down the weight of the untold story of your life.
Holding silence and carrying a lie breeds its own energy field of fear, shame and guilt.
It isn't so much about the actual act, but rather the consequences of living a life that isn't true.
If you are not able to tell a family member a trusted friend....etc...I would highly suggest reaching out towards Dial Help and/or Tom Rosemurgy. Both are very victim oriented.
Tomorrow night's RAINN event is to bring awareness, to help support and offer ways in which to regain your world after abuse. The affects of living life against the truth of what you know....is the hardest part.
Most often it is someone you knew and trusted....and now you are left with a new knowing, but yet are not allowed to act like you have seen a different side.
It leaves you pretending or lying. Silence about the change will wear on you over time...draining your power, your confidence etc. The silence and lie may protect the one you loved and trusted, but at the cost of your own sense of self and self worth.
Breaking the silence is to break back into your power. Breaking into your life.
