In this episode of The Grass Gets Greener podcast, I'm joined by Amy Collier of AmyKCollier.com. Amy joins me to share her story of how she's been able to deal with years of abuse and feeling too broken to be fixed to reach a place of healing today.
Click the play button below to check it out!
The Details
Traumatic experience:
Amy began being molested between the ages of 12 and 13; was abandoned by her mother at the age of 14; date-raped at the age of 16; and then in an abusive relationship for the next 10 years.
Effects of the traumatic experience:
Amy has experienced the types of effects commonly seen in abuse survivors. She's dealt with self-loathing, shame, depression, loss of trust and low self-esteem. She felt like she stopped living and was merely just existing from day to day. She had multiple suicide attempts. She felt like she was a terrible mother and like she wasn't good enough for anyone. She also felt like a target for abusers.
Overcoming the traumatic experience:
Amy talks about a turning point she had where she knew she had to try to work on getting better. One thing that helped her was reading the memoirs of other survivors. She also kept a notebook of inspirational quotes and things to be thankful for for when she was feeling upset or triggered. She was able to find forgiveness for her abusers, but most importantly, for herself. And she just had to learn to react differently to the things that bothered her.
What Amy does today:
Amy is an aspiring author who is working on releasing her memoir. She shares her story with others in the hopes that it will help someone. She also has a blog where she writes about ways to heal from abuse.
Final Question:
Given what you know now, if you could go back to when you were going through the tough times and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
Amy's Answer: It's not your fault.
Links Mentioned
AmyKCollier.com - Amy's website where you can find out about what she's doing and ways in which you can connect with her
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