What? You too?

“It’s important that we share our experiences with other people. Your story will heal you, and your story will heal somebody else. When you tell your story you free yourself, and you give other people permission to acknowledge their story as well.” – Iyanla Vanzant

We need to be able to talk about what happened. We need to have our story witnessed and held by someone who empathises with our shock and pain.

Who gets just awful and life-changing it has been.

But we also feel supported, encouraged and helped by hearing someone else share their story with us. The story of their trauma, and how they have survived.

But why does that make such a difference to us?

It matters because trauma is so isolating. It can feel too big – too awful – to talk about and share.

We feel contaminated, and overwhelmed with shame. So, we keep it to ourselves – and we daren’t breathe a word.

And that is isolating; it makes things so much worse.

But when someone has the courage to open up and share, we feel more understood, and we feel we’re not alone. We feel that there is someone who knows what we’ve been through.

We see that they’ve survived – so perhaps we can do, too.