Rebecca, THANK YOU for this!!!! Wow. These lines practically jumped out at me:

“Because I think the way we talk about rebuilding after abuse sets people up to wait longer than they have to.

The story usually goes like this:

She survived. She healed. Then she built something.

Clean. Sequential. One stage completing before the next one begins.

That is not what happened for me.

I did not heal first and then build.

I built while I was healing.

Messy. Nonlinear. Anxiety-filled building on days when I still did not fully believe I could do it.”

I absolutely used to think that was what healing looked like. The last five years have taught me that it looks like exactly how you described here. It is messy. It is hard. It is not linear. It is confusing. You have to fight for it, every single day. THANK YOU for this. You are doing such important work, and it is so, so, appreciated. Thank you for your bravery and honesty! You inspire me to keep going 🤍