No Longer a Victim

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” 
—Ben Okri

No matter what has been done to us in our lives, we are no longer victims. We are survivors if we are still here living and breathing. Thinking of our self as a survivor empowers us way beyond living as a victim does.

We all know people (even ourselves) who have been through serious trauma or have been treated badly by other people. Perhaps we did bad things to ourselves. We have all been through so much, but we don’t have to live in that pain forever. We can move out of it and into a better life.

Healing is available for us if we are willing to take the steps necessary to get there. We pray. We talk about what happened to us with someone safe. We learn that it wasn’t our fault they did what they did to us. We find a therapist or a recovery group to attend where we can discuss our issues and learn how to deal with the past and move on. We forgive ourselves if we need to do that.

We find that we are not alone; that things have happened to others and we ask them how they became survivors instead of victims. Once we begin to heal we are able to share our experience, strength and hope with those who are just beginning to let go of their victim status.

It works. It’s painful, but you can do it if you want to move into a more fulfilled life by taking that huge load of shame thrust upon you off of your shoulders.

Always remember what others do to you is not your fault.