Child Abuse Survivor

Wow, what great response for April’s edition! Between the new submissions and the folks who had submitted posts past the March deadline, we have over 30 posts for you all to peruse, chock full of insight, emotion, sharing,  ideas, and many other things! With so many submissions, let’s get right into them!

First, a few posts directly related to our theme for this month, rebirth and renewal

Patricia Singleton shares with us that Incest Is One Of My Stories including some details about that being the Winter of her life and looking forward to the Spring.

Nancy Richards wrote early in the month of April, explaining how Sometimes, We Must Die to the Old to be Born to the New.

Leah posted a short, but sweet, thought about Passover – a Time of Renewal and how paying attention to her inner self has brought peace.

Enola shared a music video, lyrics and her own thoughts with Free to be Me – A Re-birth of Sorts.

Lastly, I reached way back into 1998 to discover something I had written about a new day starting at Midnight.

Advocacy & Awareness

Noe submitted a post called Difficult Child or Difficult Parent? adding “Difficult parents with way too big expectations from their children – another reason for child abuse”

Cornnut32 shared information in the wake of the school shooting in Germany in Info that could save you life, or the lives of your children.

Speaking of schools, in a completely unrelated context, Diane Beeler talks about Kids in School: Getting an Education Plus a Beating.

While we’re talking about discipline, Ian Peatey also submitted an article for parents from the Quantum Learning blog, When Smacking Seems the Only Option.

Concerning Kids sent us some great information on How to Handle a School Yard Bully as well as advice for dealing with picky eaters, which I know my parents could have used!

Kate Beem started out Child Abuse Awareness Month asking What will you do to help prevent child abuse?

Also on the topic of Child Abuse Awareness Month, rollyocampo sent in
April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month (Families and Communities United in Fighting a Menace That Knows No Borders) adding that it was a “real privilege to make this submission to the carnival against child abuse. Thanks for the opportunity!” The thanks should, of course, go to Marj, who started this whole thing!

Speaking of Marj, she sent in her own post, complete with a poem commemorating this month being Child Abuse Prevention month, and National Poetry Month, titled Oh The Discomfort of Child Abuse.
Nancy sent a second entry titled Healthy vs. Unhealthy Relationships full of all sorts of good relationship information for survivors, and anyone else!

Abyss2hope adds this to her submission “I debunk a common excuse for the criminal justice system’s failures related to survivors.”, which she does with If Rape Victims Are Only Witnesses Then Murder Victims Are Only Forensic Evidence

Maryanncp reminded us back on March 27 of an often overlooked area of child abuse, Today is International Free the Slaves Awareness Day

Speaking of overlooked areas, Filipinamom writes to remind us of the Many Faces of Child Abuse.
Aftermath

Saving Grace wrote eloquently about the aftermath of abuse in her post Gates of Hell

Healing & Therapy

Kellevision sent in a post written last year about Remembering Sexual Abuse which gives some examples of when adults are more likely to remember the things they’ve buried deep in the past.

Dr. Deb reminds us that In Treatment is back with new episodes on HBO, as a psychologist specializing in trauma and depression, and a fan of the show, I’m going to guess she feels that it’s a very realistic portrayal of therapy.

Tamara has begun a series on Chakra on her blog, and sent in her explanation of how the First Chakra is Effected by Trauma and Abuse

Cornnut32 is back a second time, sharing her own thoughts on healing our battered lives with Touch of the Master’s Hand.

Buffalopine talks about the “dance of healing” in It’s a Dance.

April Optimist tells us “When we challenge our assumptions and rewrite the stories we tell ourselves we have, in a sense, a chance to be reborn with new possibilities for who we can be and what our lives can be like.” Take a look at what she says about Assumptions.

Poetry

Rainbow submitted a poem dedicated to this month’s theme, Renewal of Life, which is a beautiful title on and of itself!

Rick Belden sent us a poem for April, simply titled easter

Austin wrote some intriguing verse as well, A Light Left On

Jumping in Puddles was rather prolific, sending in two poems, Invisible Child and Sold. Be warned that they can be triggering.

Survivor Stories

A brand new Blogger, Broken, sent in her first post Through The Darkness, go and check out her blog and welcome her to the blogosphere!

SwordDanceWarrior sent in a post talking about her thoughts after a women’s spirituality conference in Maiden Revisited.

Finally, Colleen sent in a great story, Someone Listens to My Story.

Whew! That took some effort to get posted, but you won’t hear any complaints from me about that. I love having this many entries to read, ponder, and ultimately share with the community! Looking forward to next month already!

Technorati Tags: Blog Carnival

Yes, it’s time to start thinking about what you want to submit to the April carnival. As this month’s host, I’m adding a theme for the month. In addition to the regular themes of Advocacy and Awareness, Aftermath, Healing and Therapy, In the News, Poetry and Survivor Stories, in honor of the month of April, I’d like to focus this carnival on the theme of rebirth/renewal. Whether you choose to view that as the renewal of nature that comes from Springtime, through the religious point of view of Easter, or as simply as a chance for Spring cleaning, if you are thinking of renewal as a Survivor this Spring, please take the time to submit a blog post to this edition of the carnival.

I’ve scheduled the carnival to be published on Friday, April 17th, so you’ve got until midnight EDT on Weds. the 15th (Tax Day in the US!) to submit your article. But don’t wait for the last minute, if you’ve got a good post to submit, do it any time!

Technorati Tags: Blog Carnival

This has been a common refrain with the economy lately, and frankly, it’s pretty good career advice any time! Regardless of what else may be going on, and what other pressures you may face, make career decisions based on what you need to do and what will benefit you and your family, not anyone else. I’m beginning to see that it applies to survivors as well, though. A couple of recent discussions over at the Survivor Network, and offline with friends have convinced me of this.

When I saw that the theme for this months Blog Carnival was “telling the secret“, I knew exactly where this fit in. Telling your story, whether in a public forum like this one, or privately to a close friend, should always be about doing what you need to do, for yourself. As I consider the decision, way back when, to start this blog, or even the decisions I make about who I share my story with, I always come back to the same reasons. Obviously, much of my motivation for starting here was to help other survivors not to feel as alone as I did, but there was also another issue. If it wasn’t going to be safe, and healthy, for me I would not be here. As much as I wanted to help others, it had to also be the right decision for me, and it has to continue to be the right decision for me.

So far, I still think this continues to be the right thing, for me. I don’t really see where that would change, but it is certainly possible. Things change, and I am sure there are some possibilities out there that I haven’t even comprehended yet. I know many folks have quit blogging, and stopped being so public with their stories because of who has read them and the reactions they’ve had to it. I know others who simply couldn’t cope with learning about other survivors and their stories, becoming engulfed in the survivor community and unable to get outside of it. It happens, and they have made their choices based on what was right for them. As much as I enjoy this blog, and love running the Survivor Network, I know that it’s not for everyone. I know there are hard decisions that have to be made, and there are risks. I’ve accepted those risks, and decided to not allow how other people may perceive this site to dictate whether I do it or not. Not everyone can, or should, do the same.

The important thing, though, no matter how you decide to tell your secret, is that you do so in the way you need to. If that’s to one friend, or only a spouse, so be it. If it’s to a group, or to the world through a blog, great! No one else should decide for you, or influence your decision to tell your story. It is your story, and it is your life. It belongs to you alone, and should be told however you want. We are not children anymore, we’re adults and we make our own choices, choose what is best for you, and do what you gotta do, for yourself.

Technorati Tags: Blog Carnival, Health