Link – It’s Important to Get Out and Try New Things

“The thing about getting out there though is that it requires you to be your own person, it requires you to rely on yourself for your needs which is a skill that’s valuable for anyone but especially valuable for people with mental illness.”

This is something I have learned over the years as I have taken on new challenges, moved to new places, etc. The more I get out into those types of situations, the easier it becomes the next time to do it. As survivors of child abuse, I think we often tell ourselves the incorrect story about ourselves. We consider ourselves fragile because we are still healing, still learning things that others learned during their childhood, when we were learning just how to survive. So we try and control everything, to prevent getting hurt again.

I’d like to challenge you to think differently about it. Yes, what I just said is all true. Healing takes time, and you should be gentle with yourself while you are doing it, but I also want you to be brave. When faced with a new challenge, whether it be more responsibility at work, or taking a short trip by yourself, instead of living in fear of what could happen I want you to remember one thing.

You survived being abused as a child.

Now go back to that thing you are feeling anxious about, and tell me, even if it all goes wrong, will it be anywhere near as bad as an abusive childhood? If not, then yeah, you’ve done that, so no matter what, you’ll survive this too.

It’s Important to Get Out and Try New Things