ToTheMaxima

@JustMe... Welcome to the site! It's wonderful that you're taking extra steps to begin healing — it's brave of you to reach out. I'm so sorry for the circumstances that brought you here, and you're not alone in your journey. What happened to you was not your fault. You deserve healing and respect and validation. I joined this site to try and take the next steps in my healing process, and I found that it was extremely helpful. I hope you're able to find these forums just as useful! You're in my thoughts, best wishes in your healing journey.

Hi Timothy, welcome to After Silence. I am so sorry for what you have gone through, and you're incredibly brave for reaching out. I know that I've also struggled with minimizing my own CSA, and it's definitely a hard battle in the healing process. But no abuse is ever okay. No-one should ever be hurt in such a horrendous way. Every survivor deserves help, respect, acceptance, and healing. You are not alone in your struggles. Everyone is so welcoming and accepting here, and I hope these forums aid you in your healing journey.

@Vinsami I am deeply sorry for what happened to you and what lead you to come here. It's definitely a serious struggle processing through such pain, but the results of safely and happily inhabiting your own body again is certainly worth it. I am so thankful that we are able to support each other on our own journeys. Thank you for reaching out, you're not alone.

Thank you so much for your sweet replies, @8888 and @MeBeMary , I really appreciate it. I am looking forward to healing, even though it will be hard. I look forward to exploring the forums, and wish you all the best on your journeys, as well!

@missfrier Thank you for your kind words! I have been browsing the forums today, and everyone seems so nice and understanding. I know it won't be easy, but I am ready to continue on the healing process along with everyone here. I already feel a little better knowing that there's a great support group here.

@WannaMoveOn Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I feel so accepted and welcomed here, I'm so happy to have found such a pleasant group. It is unfortunate what circumstances have brought us together, but I am thankful for the healing we can now strive for together. Thank you so much for your kind words. They really do mean a lot, that I'm not alone in all of this. I've been looking at some of the other forums, and it's been so comforting (and saddening) to know that there are others who are going through the same thing as I am. They all have my best wishes, and I hope to help others

Hello, everyone! You can call me Max. I'm here after a near-decade long journey of working through my trauma. It's been a difficult one, to be sure. It was only until I recently started therapy that I realized how much hurt I had been carrying that I didn't even know of. I didn't remember much of my trauma due to intense dissociation (I was around 12 at the time, so I didn't even understand what was happening). But what my mind forgot, my body remembered. It was only after therapy that I finally came to terms with what happened to me. It's hard to admit, even now—seeing "survivor" ne