274 Quotes About Abuse-survivors

It is not okay to ‘live and let live,’ to let ‘bygones be bygones,’ to ‘forgive and forget,’ to let the ‘past be the past’ or any of the other clichés your family and friends will try to persuade you to forget about what happened and to move on. Try not to accept these messages.

Receiving feels wonderful once you get used to it. But first you must acknowledge how scary it is to be open. If, as a child you were left to fend for yourself or there were strings attached to getting what you needed, you learned that nurturing was either unavailable or unsafe. But now, receiving doesn’t have to mean owing something back. Start asking for at least one thing you want every day.

If I were free, as a physician, to say what I pleased, I would tell every abused person I see that there is an entire world out there that is nothing like the one you’re living. Go discover it.

Many of us learned that keeping busy…kept us at a distance from our feelings...Some of us took the ways we busied ourselves—becoming overachievers & workaholics—as self esteem…But whenever our inner feeling did not match our outer surface, we were doing ourselves a disservice…If stopping to rest meant being barraged with this discrepancy, no wonder we were reluctant to cease our obsessive activity.

Honor yourself for all the ways you learned to take care of yourself during your abuse ~

Survivors are often incredibly aware and perceptive. What was born of necessity becomes a response that is gentle and understanding.

Sometimes, during our healing journeys, those closest to us can’t help even though we all wish it could be that way. Allow those moments to guide you to different, empowering choices.

For all those who believed me,and for all those who didn't. It can't be easy hearingthings that you shouldn't.

You’ve already done the hardest part; you survived the trauma. You are much stronger than you think you are.