“I can shake off everything as I write: My sorrows disappear, courage is reborn.”
By helping people manage and learn from negative experiences, writing strengthens their immune systems as well as their minds. Comment: Writing is no stranger to therapy. For years, practitioners have used logs, questionnaires, journals and other writing forms to help people heal from stresses and traumas.
Sharing our writing is a powerful way to connect with other survivors and at Courageous Survivors we invite you to share your writing (such as poems, letters, essays).
To view the writing, click on any of the thumbnails to view in full screen and then you can use the arrows on either side of the page to move between them.
Sharing our experiences, our strength and our hope is
a valuable tool on our path to happiness.
Reading about others' experiences is a way of connecting
and learning that we are not alone with our pain.
Triggers are something that all survivors must
remain careful to manage appropriately. Sights, sounds and words
are common triggers that can bring back strong memories and
can even cause someone to feel they are living their own trauma again.
Some of the writings below do include descriptions - sometimes quite graphic -
of real events experienced by a survivor.
We urge all readers to be aware of their own reaction to these writings and to
exercise caution.
Any of the writings below could potentially trigger a reader's trauma but the ones that
contain graphic descriptions of sexual abuse or assault contain an additional
warning - look for the words 'TRIGGER WARNING' underneath the title of the writing.
If you are triggered by anything that you read here, please know that there are
resources that you can turn to for help
(such as this from The Younique Foundation). You can also find links to other resources on our Links
page
(click here).
“It’s an oft-repeated truism that writing, or any form of art or creativity, is therapeutic.
But sometimes clichés become clichés because they’re true.”