Not Sure

[Lostandfound]

I'm not sure this is a place for me, but I'll say hi for now. I mean, with this stuff, where do you start? To be honest, I just don't want to take up too much of anyone's time, especially as my own history wrt sexual assault is ambiguous by most people's standards. That's all for now.

[Patty]

Hey there!!!

A very welcome to AS. I am so glad you found your way here!!! I hope you will get all the support you need here.

AS is a great place to share what you have on your heart..but take your time and wait until you are ready.....

We love you PM me anytime

Take care

Patty

[dodo]

:xmas2:

Hi and welcome to AS

best wishes

karen

[Survivors sanctuary]

Welcome to AS ..

[SilverLining]

Welcome LostnFound,

I hope you feel welcome here, and know we are here

for you. there are people here who so understand you, so respect

and will always support you hun.

Thanks for saying hi.

All the strength and healing to you

SilverLining

[Saltywaters]

Welcome!!

Jo

[Lostandfound]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, I'm going to dig around a bit on this forum to get an idea of where I fit in. Some stories I've read are devastating, and although I'm haunted by an incident in my childhood (maybe two) I didn't have the sustained torment that some people on here have had, often throughout their entire childhoods. I know it shouldn't, but it makes me feel like a phony, or even a whiner in comparison. I know, I know...

[inkingthestar]

read through my PM that i sent you. we're all here for the same reason.

[Skye]

Lostandfound.

I just wanted to say hi and welcome to AS.

I hope that you find the same support here that I have.

I have also struggled with feeling like a phoney - im not quite sure why - I guess because in my head I have always told myself it was never that bad? When I reach out for support now; at times i feel unworthy....

Just trying to say that I understand where you are at.

I hope that in time you can see that we have all been hurt and we are all worthy of finding some peace and happiness.

Take care and welcome!

Skye

[Lostandfound]

Lostandfound.

I just wanted to say hi and welcome to AS.

I hope that you find the same support here that I have.

I have also struggled with feeling like a phoney - im not quite sure why - I guess because in my head I have always told myself it was never that bad? When I reach out for support now; at times i feel unworthy....

Just trying to say that I understand where you are at.

I hope that in time you can see that we have all been hurt and we are all worthy of finding some peace and happiness.

Take care and welcome!

Skye

Thanks again, everyone. Blueskye, I think you hit on an important point. Maybe for those of us who didn't tell anyone, or repressed the memory or whatever, we were kind of forced by our own rationalizations to minimize the outrage of what happened to us, sometimes for years, so it's especially difficult for us to accept that a great wrong was done to us as a result. I mean, we can think it, but it's kind of hard to feel it sometimes... in spite of the evidence!

I just want to add that this place is the most supportive and welcoming of its kind I've yet found on the Interwebs. Seriously.

[SilverLining]

I agree, It is a very unique supportive place LAF,

I think we are all very priveledged to have

found After Silence.

Take care today

SilverLining

[John]

Hey there,

If you didnt think this wasnt the right place for you then you wouldn't have come here, I believe you have every right to be here and please know we will give you our time, and we dont think that you are going to take up much of our time, we like giving our time to help ours, and you are included in this,

Welcome to AS, and I hope to see you on the website soon, and please send me a PM if you need anything,

John.

[gemini26]

hi and welcome to AS. rest assured that you have every right to be here, and everyone here will welcome u with open arms. we are all on the same path to find our way through what has happened to us all. we are all survivors, regardless of what our personal stories may be...

welcome home.

-mandy

[gemini26]

hi and welcome to AS. rest assured that you have every right to be here, and everyone here will welcome u with open arms. we are all on the same path to find our way through what has happened to us all. we are all survivors, regardless of what our personal stories may be...

welcome home.

-mandy

[Katia60]

Hi lostandfound,

Welcome to AS.

I had only a couple of memories when I first started working on healing. And everything anyone else had gone through seemed to be a lot, until I started remembering all the other things that had happened to me, and it really put it all in perspective. If I hadn't worked on healing, I might not have started to remember the tougher stuff and gotten to be happier with myself and my life and learned how to stop loathing myself. It all started with only a few memories.

Now I know that no matter what happened or even if it only happened once, it is damaging and deserves healing. There isn't anyone here measuring our abuse and our suffering and our pain, but ourselves. That is one of the hardest critics to overcome. Hang in there. Try to keep posting. We all deserve to heal.

Good and healing thoughts to you.

Kate

[Lostandfound]

Wow, you people are very good and decent... and smart, too. Kate, that is so true about being our own worst critics. Silencing that inner critic is perhaps the hardest thing for survivors of sexual abuse/assault (or any other trauma for that matter) to do. Also, unearthing less buried memories can often lead to exposing even more deeply buried ones. I think that has happened to me, and I'm fairly sure there are no more lurking in the shadows... but then again, if my memory is so faulty as to play such tricks in the first place, who really knows? Also, given the mind game element of repressed memories, how do I know whether any new flashes or dream snippets or whatever are actually, objectively real?

I'm really glad I found this place, although I haven't really said a great deal yet. Even anonymously, it's not easy to talk about. Yet it's inspirational to see others disclose stuff that is so much more sustained than what happened to me. Some very strong, courageous people here.

[Katia60]

Hugs and healing to you.

Kate

[Lostandfound]

Hugs and healing to you.

Kate

Thank you.