Rambles Series: Sharing Your Story
Rambles Season 1 Episode 5 (R1E5)
When you are ready, you may find you want to share your story. Whether you seek to understand your own story or share your story to someone whom you trust, this may be helpful for you.
I recorded this episode before Mr. George Floyd murder has circulated the internet like a storm. I, like many other Americans and American minorities are distraught.
As a CSA survivor, it has been difficult not to feel pain, anger, and frustration toward indifference at the face of obvious injustice and systematic oppression and racism.
It was after this recording that I had witnessed brave Black colleagues in my hospital share their personal everyday encounters with racism and oppression. Their experiences were a string of traumas and protective behaviors from frequent exposure to hate and ignorance.
In solidarity with our Black brothers and sisters, survivors or not—I will be introducing a new set of resources dedicated to different intersectionalities.
Timestamps:
- 00:00 – 01:17 Introduction
- 01:17 – 01:56 Overview
- 01:56 – 02:29 The different types of sharing (Therapist, Support Group, New Lover, Friend, Public)
- 03:34 – 05:49 How you may feel when you tell your story
- 05:50 – 07:19 Taking care of yourself throughout the process
- Find a dedicated safe space and time
- Gather materials (emergency contacts, pens, journal, art supplies)
- Deep breathe, meditate, guided meditations
- Understand how to know when it’s time to stop or pause before continuing next time
- Extreme anxiety
- Hyperstimulated or triggered
- Overwhelmed
- Dissociated
- Feeling Numb
- Heart Racing, Sweating
- Consider therapy
- RAINN.org
- 12:41 – 14:00 Putting your story together
- 14:01 – 17:54 Choosing whom to tell and how
- 17:55 – 28:21 How to support a survivor telling their story
- 28:22 – 30:34 When you don’t get the support that you need
- 30:35 – 34:31 Conclusion
Other Notes:
I have been hesitate to pause, but my partner, my dog, and I are going through a tremendous life change. As I transition out of the military, we are racing the clock to move out of our house before ultimately moving out of the state. For the sake of my own mental health, I have decided to concentrate my efforts on this transition, and to continue my work through illustrations and my website.
With events and policies affecting the lives of those in the Black and LBGTQ+ communities, I hope to share resources to those of us who may experience those intersectionalities.
Additionally, I hope to share resources for those who are interested in conversations about prevention. While The Relentless Project is ultimately geared toward the survivor, I hope to share other resources for those who are interested in taking action. Advocating for prevention is the answer for the generations of the future.
I hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day/evening. May you find peace, may you find healing.