Dedication: I would like to dedicate this to my bestie and my adopted big sister, they have supported me and shown me strength in times where i felt that i had none, they gave me voice when all went to silence me. They are the strongest women I know and I love them.
I am amazing because I am thriving in spite of everything which told me I couldn’t.
Hi there, I’m 23 and a masters student, and had you asked me a few years ago if I thought I’d be in the position I am in today, I’d have laughed at you. I am the victim of childhood abuse, sexual, physical and emotional. Every adult in my life reinforced this idea that I was nothing, that I would always be nothing. I wasn’t good for anything except being abused. Even the people who were specifically meant to help me told me that I was aiming too high, I told a support person at college that I wanted to do my degree in psychology, she told me to look into being a librarian instead because psychology would be too hard. Last July, I graduated with a top end degree in psychology and started a masters in wellbeing and mental health. And I have days where I still feel like I am nothing, but I am thriving.
I thought that after the abuse I would never have a normal, healthy relationship. This year I celebrate 6 years with my partner, we live in our own place and have our own life. I could have turned cold to the world at large, but I never did, I have compassion for everyone I meet in life. I found the most amazing friends and made them family. I am naturally drawn to people whose family situations are less than ideal, yet we all seemed to muddle together and create our own and show love to each other in the ways that each of us deserves, and if that is not strength on all of our parts I don’t know what is.
This year, I finally decided that I would start sharing my story as often as I can on the off chance that it might provide someone else with hope. I have bad days. I have days where I feel angry and bitter and weak about everything that I have had to go through to get where I am, but like the wildflower that grows in all the places people think it shouldn’t, I am growing and I am thriving and I am a strong woman, and I stand with all other strong women out there, even the ones who don’t see their strength yet.
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