2013 The Year of Courage – How Brave Am I Willing To Be To Help Inspire Enduring Change In The World?

I have decided to stand up and use my lived experience to inspire others who have been traumatised and let them know it is possible to come out whole on the other side of anything, and show them how I did it. I survived being sold into a child pedophile/pornography ring when I was 9 years old. I am willing to tell my story of despair, determination, hope and love in the face of extreme adversity in a way that resonates with people and touches on their inspiration – not their pity. My goal is to open people’s hearts and minds, helping them realise that they have the internal resources within themselves to rise up and not be limited to past suffering. That it is possible to not only survive trauma, but to flourish and go on to live a significant life.
My intent with this blog is to track my story since deciding to go public with my past life experience. I guess you could say I took a massive leap of faith back in early January when I made the decision to trust and surrender to whatever would come my way. No easy task, can I just say. But I did it! (not before losing 14% of my body weight…but that seems to be under control! Ha!) I continue to do it and doors keep opening up for me. And I truly believe you know you’re on the path of grace when things fall into place effortlessly. When everything aligns with no rhyme or reason and the right people “just so happen” to present themselves.
In just a few short months I have gone from being the girl who would take a zero in high School before she would risk getting up and speaking in front of 20 classmates, to now putting myself out there, risking vulnerability and finding the courage to stand up in front of many people to be seen and heard. And I mean truly seen in all of my imperfections. And people are responding to it. I am inspiring others to risk vulnerability as well. Because I believe that deep down, we all want to be seen and heard. Every single one of us wants to deeply connect. The only thing that holds us back is our fear. Our fear of being rejected. What if who I really am isn’t good enough? If people really knew how I felt they would hate me. Well, I’m here to tell you it just ain’t so.
Come take this journey with me as I risk everything I think I know only to discover a world beyond my expectations. The kindness of strangers has been staggering. Learn of my journey writing my life’s story. Documenting the horror and the triumph. Walk with me as I discover how brave I am willing to be as I conquer my fears and push myself beyond my comfort zone to help bring awareness to a cause and create enduring and sustainable change tackling a global problem many don’t want to know about. But more importantly, share in the stories I will tell of those inspired to step out of the victim mentality and boldly reclaim the life that never should have been taken from them to begin with. Because the most important point of my journey is to transcend the victim/trauma story.
Happily Ever After is a possible ending, no matter how horrific the beginning!