Thread: Healing?
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Old Aug 11, 2003, 06:03 PM
FromDarkToLght FromDarkToLght is offline
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Member Since: Aug 2003
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Hello there
As someone who has been down that path, let me reassure you a bit. What you are going through at the moment is something that a lot of abuse survivors experience once they start to deal with their pain. I know that you feel that at the moment you are overwhelmed with pain. And in a way that is true - but the reason you are feeling the pain so much is because you are learning to DEAL with that pain. We cannot make a hurt just go away: we need to learn to face it and accept into our past experiences. I have experienced a lot of pain and abuse, but I have lived to tell the tale and help other people through - that has made me an even stronger person.

About the memories - yes, it is typical of the healing process for memories to start re-surfacing. As another reply mentions, it is not only bad memories that surface. Let me give you an example. For years and years I have had most of my childhood as a blank. My healing process took a long, long time and during that period I slowly started to piece together parts of my childhood that I really could not have told you about two or three years ago. Most of those memories were the bad ones relating to childhood abuse spanning 18 years. But if someone had asked me "What was your favourite lesson at school?" or "Which birthday was your best?" I would look at them blankily because I still couldn't remember basic information like that. However, just over a year ago I met up with my father again, and started to spend time with him (he was not the person abusing me, but he was aware and did nothing). Suddenly, whenever we got together I began to be bombarded with small memories of my childhood - my Dad's favourite car, christmas in UK, our home in Quebec, the time we lived in Manhattan - it went on and on. Not related to the abuse. At first it felt odd - wierd. I didn;t knowif I wanted to juist remember my childhood all the time. I thought I had left that brehind. But as time has gone on I feel myself become 'refreshed', as if I am consolidating millions of shattered pieces of myself. I thought I had already done that. But obviously not!
It takes time. You are on the right track. We need to recall the bad memories so that we can lay them to rest; we need to recall the good memories to take their place where they belong.
Be strong.