BoN-bOn
Gold Member
Tonight I attended a support group session at the local domestic violence shelter. It was SO good & I felt so comfortable sharing my story & encouraging others & receiving their encouragement too!! Although I've been free from my abusive marriage for ten years, & out from under my father's control for three years, I realize that I'm just now beginning my journey to HEALING just as these other women are. It was so good to be around women who understood & encouraged each other. I had a conversation with the advocate who encouraged me to attend afterwards & thanked her for encouraging me to go...I felt so positive when I left!
Then it was all ripped out from under me. My sister texted me to see how I was doing. I was so excited to tell her about the group & my positive experience. She said, "I hope that it helps you to STOP dwelling in your horrible past." ??? I have spent the last ten years trying NOT to dwell in any of it! I didn't want to be "the victim!" Hiding my panic, isolating myself, fighting nightmares, flashbacks, arguing with doctors that I did NOT have PTSD & never going back, unable to have trusting relationships, pretending I was "fine," being strong because I had to be....the list could go on & on. SHE HAS NO IDEA!!! Then she said that I needed to be around positive people who build me up, not bring me down & that I'm using PTSD as an excuse....that "if someone told me I was stupid enough times that I would start to believe that too. & it's not okay for someone to keep telling me I have PTSD!????" I feel like she just stomped all over my heart just as I was starting to let her in. :cry: It just plain hurts. How do you make people truly understand what you are going through??? I don't WANT to feel like this!! I didn't CHOOSE this!! She doesn't even understand how much courage it takes to ACKNOWLEDGE it & take steps to fix it. Maybe what she was saying was coming from my Dad, I don't know. I'm so sad.
Then it was all ripped out from under me. My sister texted me to see how I was doing. I was so excited to tell her about the group & my positive experience. She said, "I hope that it helps you to STOP dwelling in your horrible past." ??? I have spent the last ten years trying NOT to dwell in any of it! I didn't want to be "the victim!" Hiding my panic, isolating myself, fighting nightmares, flashbacks, arguing with doctors that I did NOT have PTSD & never going back, unable to have trusting relationships, pretending I was "fine," being strong because I had to be....the list could go on & on. SHE HAS NO IDEA!!! Then she said that I needed to be around positive people who build me up, not bring me down & that I'm using PTSD as an excuse....that "if someone told me I was stupid enough times that I would start to believe that too. & it's not okay for someone to keep telling me I have PTSD!????" I feel like she just stomped all over my heart just as I was starting to let her in. :cry: It just plain hurts. How do you make people truly understand what you are going through??? I don't WANT to feel like this!! I didn't CHOOSE this!! She doesn't even understand how much courage it takes to ACKNOWLEDGE it & take steps to fix it. Maybe what she was saying was coming from my Dad, I don't know. I'm so sad.