Member-only story
To the Ones Who Didn’t Report
and won’t report their assault.
Sometimes, there’s guilt.
Are they doing this to someone else? And could you have stopped them if you had reported?
Is that your fault now?
(No, it’s not. It’s still their fault — Them as the attacker. But logic does not stop the feeling. The nightmares.)
Sometimes, there’s relief.
Freedom. Escape. You’re alive. You breathe and look at the sky and today is a new day.
Sometimes, there’s a tightness.
Something reminds you of them.
A type of shirt.
A haircut.
A smell.
And then there’s a relapse — And that’s okay.
Your mind is trying to protect you. Isn’t it beautiful how it works — How it remembers?
Just admire that for a second — Your mind’s protective abilities.
It might be inconvenient: It might get “in the way” of work, school, family, fun, planning, and enjoyment.
But those little relapses are your mind reacting to a threat — The same reaction that helped you survive. Give it some space. Thank the feeling and let it go.
