Month: April 2025

Resilience

I have spent many years
trying to find myself
I was buried
hidden
under such a burden of damagedness

I see my little granddaughter now
running free
laughing
climbing
singing
with such wonderful gay abandon
and I have vague pictorial flashes of memory
of the little wild child I was
before….

For years
I have wondered how I managed to survive
the pain and torment
of lies and secrecies
the destruction of family
to keep going
to keep living
when so many others couldn’t

This morning
I woke with this word
Resilience

A word I’ve heard many times
but gave no thought or mind to
cuz it had nothing to do with me
did it?

Certainly not a word that was ever given to me
I’ve had others thrown my way
others which have stuck and caused deep woundings
Bossy
Super Mum
Victim
Liar
to name but a few

I am a confessed logophile
my children will vouch for that
even if they don’t understand that particular word 🙂
I needed to find answers
so I went searching
and in that searching
I found some truths

What depletes resilience?
overwork
chronic stress
exhaustion
neglecting self care
negative self-talk
unhealthy coping mechanisms
managing difficult people
lack of social support
withstanding personal criticism
isolation
substance abuse

Yes, that was me
maybe that still is me to an extent
But I have not spent the past 14 years
in therapy
working my arse off
trying to recover
trying to heal
trying to live
without making inroads and
instead of ticking those boxes
I am crossing them off the list

Instead
I can now tick other boxes
like these…
A resilient person perseveres in the toughest times
A resilient person finds strength within themself
A resilient person supports others instead of bringing them down
A resilient person can withstand and recover from difficult conditions
A resilient person can bounce back from setbacks
A resilient person can draw on their inner strength to navigate challenges
A resilient person can maintain wellbeing
A resilient person is aware of their emotional reactions
A resilient person is comfortable in who they are

Why has it taken over 5 decades for me to get to this point?
Because I was so buried in the trauma
I used every ounce of of all I was just to survive
It wasn’t until I got to a point of breaking
of being so broken
and someone recognising my brokenness for what it was
and encouraged me to seek help
and I did
and I have persevered
for years

But being resilient doesn’t mean I don’t get hurt
It just means I have gained the emotional maturity
to know how to express myself
to the ones I can trust
to the ones who have chosen to support me
I know how to deal with that hurt
and how to place it where it belongs
the sting of it still stings
and the tears are still real
but I can now embrace the hurt
let the tears fall
and confess my feelings
and move on
leaving it at the feet of those it belongs to
and not mine

Three years ago
I chose to end some extremely traumatic years
by having a tattoo
placed visibly for my own reminder
a reminder that this was the end

Today
looking at it with fresh eyes
I am understanding fully
the symbolism of my choice
and it fills me with hope

the Lotus flower
represents
strength
rebirth
and
Resilience

and added is a line from one of my favourite poets
Rumi
“You’ve seen my descent, now watch my rising” 

I didn’t understand fully 3 years ago
just how much of a rising there was coming

Blame or Shame

shame or blame
blame and shame
coexistent

for years I’ve lived with both
burning holes in my brain
years of untangling
the shame
years and years and years
taking the blame
carrying the shame
then years and more years
unloading the shame
but allowing the blame to become misplaced anger
averting the idea that the one I loved
could be that monster
justifying
mitigating
his part because of his history
preventing my heart from being broken
again and again and again
and then eventually
understanding
that the blame and shame
actually lies
fair and square
at his feet, on his head
not mine
no more excusing or defending him

it took years and years
for me to identify that blame
and to put the shame where it truly belongs
but in so doing
I have felt and still feel so alone
with no understanding from those who used to love me
from the ones closest to me
who are now so far far away from me
who throw their anger
their rage
so blindly
so angrily
so misguidedly
at me

I couldn’t comprehend
why?
and then
the lightbulb moment
the clarity
the understanding
they are doing exactly
the same
as I did

they cannot
they do not
the have not
the capacity to cope with
the shame
the humiliation
of knowing
that the one person
they knew and trusted
could be that monster
so their anger displaces
misguidedly misplaced
and is directed at me
just one of his many victims
who has had the audacity to finally
stand up and speak out

the pain
the heartbreak
the divisiveness
the trauma
the misuse of power
the infliction of grief and trauma
the absolute suffering and distress
caused by the evilness of paedophillia
the perversion of incest
the absolute lifelong torment from sexual abuse
is so great
so immense
the ripples that grow
and grow
and grow
into uncontrolled tsunami waves
from the shame and the blame
destroy relationships
and families

shame and blame
live symbiotically
and unless they are
directed fair and square at the feet of the offender
they become parasitic
and entwine within the psyche of the family tree
and kill
everything they touch

it is the worst heartbreak
ever