Kim Saeed over at Let Me Reach has nominated me for the “I’m NOT Featured on Freshly Pressed” award! I would like to thank her for her support, resources, and encouragement she provides her readers. What she does is definitely an act of love!
None of us who find ourselves in the close-knit family of abuse survivors (and some who are still trapped in abusive relationships) make our way here for recognition. Our initial aim is to break our own silence surrounding the abuse we suffered and endured and to also build that urgently necessary circle of support that is needed to begin healing. Slowly, over time, our purpose in blogging here changes from ourselves to one more focused on not only providing resources and insight, but also the support and encouragement that new ones need to stabilize and find the courage to continue to shed light on their darkness and forever banish and silence the shame associated with abuse in intimate partner relationships.
When I first started my blog almost a year ago, I never planned for it to turn into what it has today. I was initially using it as a way to get my story out and find my way into the light. Along the way, as the weeks turned into months, with the support and encouragement of more established bloggers in the family, I found myself driven to use my suffering and pain for a purpose. All the love and support that was shared with me, I wanted to pass on to others, and so my blog has become what it is only because of all of you. I cherish and appreciate all my readers, and never expected recognition for what I do.
As Abby at The left side once said to me, as long as what we do manages to even save one life, to help one victim or survivor get the encouragement and strength they need, then we have done so much, for that in itself is no small feat. It involves more than just sharing wounds and displaying our scars. We recover our dignity, self-respect, self-love, peace, hope, ability to trust, and we make friends that share a closer, tighter bond than most others are able to find. Through our suffering and anguish, we all become sisters and brothers, and we never let each other stumble and fall. And knowing that you have several hundred of those hands, out-stretched and ready to catch you if they see you start to fall, is what it is all about.
It is with that hope and love in my heart that I can say I have no concerns whether or not my blog ever appears on the Freshly Pressed page. I am not saying I wouldn’t appreciate the platform it would provide myself and all those who read and comment on my blog, but I am not going to make it a goal. With all the diverse blogs featured there, it is my hope that one day, my fellow DV bloggers will, too, find a home there. That their voice will be a regularly featured part of Freshly Pressed, and that our voices will continue to join and become louder so that all who make their way here will have to take note of the strength, courage, love, and hope, that we as a family already have the honor to witness here in our circle every day. Rise up and speak, my friends, for we are what makes the road smoother.
Please visit Kim at her blog Let Me Reach if you have not made your way there already. Her posts always contain wonderful information and encouragement, and I would love for you all to be a part of that.
Here are the blogs I wish to present this award:
1. The Story of Rei
2. Back Office Bulletin
3. You Don’t Have to Suffer in Silence
4. Freefromhim
5. The left side
6. Inspiring Evolution
7. The Running Thriver
8. Mommy on Edge
9. Battered Wife Seeking Better Life
Rules for Nominees:
1. Select the blog(s) you think deserve the “The I’m NOT Featured On Freshly Pressed Award”.
2. Write a blog post and tell us the blog(s) you have chosen- there are no minimum or maximum number of blogs required- and ‘present’ the blog(s) with their award.
3. Include in your blog post a paragraph about why you’d like to be on WordPress’ Freshly Pressed OR a paragraph on why you couldn’t care less about Freshly Pressed. Up to you
4. Let the blog(s) that you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the instructions with them- (please don’t alter the instructions or the badge!)
5. Come over and say hello to the originator of the “The I’m NOT Featured On Freshly Pressed Award” via this link:http://DonCharisma.org/2014/01/01/the-im-not-featured-on-freshly-pressed-award
6. And as a winner of the award- please add a link back to the blog that presented you with this award, and then PROUDLY display the award on your blog.
7. If you ever do get officially “Freshly Pressed” then take down this award badge and display the official “Freshly Pressed” badge instead.
You are such an inspiration to me, I can only hope I can be what you have been to me in the future..
It may not feel like it inside right now, but you ARE becoming the person you hope to be. Every second of every day you live and heal brings you further away from the badness and further into hope, laughter, and love.
Healing is a long journey, and even I still have a long way to go. The road is full of potholes and detours in the beginning, but eventually as you re-discover yourself and get acquainted with the new you (you will never be completely the same again), you will learn to navigate this with more ease each day. You will become more and more at peace, and soon you will be looking back on this time in your life and taking stock of your progress, and you will become overwhelmed with gratitude. Not only for those who have helped you along the way, but gratitude within for your strength and courage, and you will be suddenly aware of how much YOU have encouraged others along the way.
For you have already, and you do not yet know. Some may not feel ready to reach out and say so, some may be just getting to know you, but we are out there. And even if those of us who don’t know your entire story, we still get so much encouragement and inspiration each time you speak out and tell another part of your story, thereby sharing with us all another piece of who you are and the woman you are to become.
I still have hard days, and there are few closest to me (Kerwyn in particular) that feel the brunt of those days, but I have so much support to get through them. And yes, I get that support from those newer ones in my circle. Every time you share more, every time you reach out, I am reminded of the courage it takes to do that when you first get started, and I am happy to be a part of sharing your story.
You are already becoming that woman, my friend. That I can guarantee. You are amazing in the strength and love and kindness you display to others here. Only through this interchange can we all become the new version of ourselves.
In love and support,
Amy
I will probably read this every day! Thank you.
Congrats and warm regards DC
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