I was asked to speak at our TBTN rally tomorrow by my counselor who helped me through high school with what I went through. Of course I didn't really have to think about it, I think raising awareness is important and sharing my story is part of that.
I want to share my speech for tomorrow on here with everyone so that all of you can be apart of tomorrow as well even if you're not there. I've revised some of it for the web instead of speaking to a crowd.
Hey everyone, thanks for coming out and showing your support
for victims and rallying together to raise awareness and help end sexual
assault and abuse.
I was introduced to Victims Intervention Program about 8
years ago and they’ve really help me start to face my past and even what I was
still going through when I started talking to them. I’ve stayed in touch with the people who
helped me and were by my side for 3 years, they’re great friends to have and
wonderful people. They made a big
difference in my life and I know I’m just one of many. Let’s give them a big hand to say Thank You
for all they’ve done and all they do. (Please if you know of a VIP near you or see that they are doing a fundraiser please help them out, it's a good cause. Also if you are a victim then think about volunteering and helping others who are going through similar situations)
I was molested by my biological father at a young age, when
it started I don’t know, it stopped when I told my family at the age of 4 or
5. Then his parents took me in and the
abuse started again, my grandmother blamed me for her son going to jail and I
was the one who caused everything, then her husband who taught me how to shave
and talked to me and stood up for me turned into the one who started to touch
me inapropratly, then had me show him my chest so he could measure the growth
of my boobs, that excelled into having to ride in the car without pants or
showing him my boobs, and if I said no it was a big deal and no wasn’t
something you told him ever. Finally
with the help of VIP and others I moved out and pressed charges.
I carried a lot of what I was told and what happened to me
around for those 17 years and it wasn’t until after that I realized a lot of
what I was told wasn’t true, and that I could change who I was into who ever I
wanted to be. A couple weeks ago I went
to see, former rocket scientist and now great motivational speak, Rick Seymour speak. He talked about self image, how
our brains work and how to get the things you want in life. A lot of what he said hit home to me. He talked about how we get our self image
from emotional and repitious events, and then he told us to dream and those
dreams will make a difference in our lives and that we can make dreams a
reality.
I had a very low self image.
I was always treated like Cinderella, I wasn’t allowed to talk unless
spoken to, had to do all the farm chores while my brother watched, and I
couldn’t ever do anything right. I was
told I was fat and stupid and that I’d never amount to anything. I believed them. I found it hard to make friends, and I always
wanted to lose weight, but I also wanted to prove them wrong, but there was a voice
in my head that kept arguing how I couldn’t do things I wanted. I met my husband and through his upliving
words my self image started to change.
Then a I started my own photography business and really felt like I was
proving them wrong, but after a 2 years of it not taking off like I thought it
would I once again heard the voice saying “failure” then I was introduced to Shaklee, and really started to feel empowered.
After hearing Rick Seymour speak I know know with out a doubt that what
I was told for years wasn’t true, and that I am a successful business owner,
I’m a surviver, I’m smart, pretty, and I can do all the things in life I want
to. I tell myself that every day because
we need to reinforce the positives in our life.
Then we were asked to dream.
I had my dreams stolen from me at a very young age. I never dreamed of what my future would look
like, I just let things happen and hoped for the best. Who was I to dream of cars, money,
vacations?? I should be happy with what
I have. That’s what I was taught and
what I was told. No one ever told me to
dream, no one said you can do anything you want, it will take work but you can
do it. I learned how to dream that
day. I learned a lot that day.
I use to spend a lot of time looking back at the past and
trying to figure out how my life would be different had I gotten help sooner,
or what I could have done differently. I
found that that made me depressed and didn’t help me move forward in life. I want everyone here to know that you are
wonderful, beautiful, strong, and you should dream, and use those dreams to
move you forward. I think that because
of the abuse and hardships we’ve had it takes a toll on us to the point that we
don’t know about the good things in us.
I know that was true for me. Shame
on your friends and family if they don’t tell you everyday that you should do
what makes you happy because you deserve to be happy. After what we’ve gone through we should be
able to live the life we want, and you can.
If any of you need someone to help you find your dreams or you need
someone there to show you how great and strong you are come over to me and I’ll
be happy to talk to you one on one and so will VIP.
I found a quote that I loved and I think it’s very fitting
for tonight
I love that quote so much it’s the background on my computer
and it drives me. I struggled with why
did this happen to me and I use to dwell on my past, the hurt and worry will
always be there but the more you can forget about those people who didn’t treat
you right and focus on the ones that do, the happier you’ll be. Don’t ever forget what happened to you, don’t
try to, use that and share it with everyone so that they know this is real and
a problem. And I couldn’t figure out why
me, why did it happen, why is there abuse of all kinds in this world. I don’t have an answer. All I know is my past hurt me but because I
worked through it I’m stronger and now know that I went through all that so I
could tell my story, raise awareness and help other women with their past and
help them find their inner strength to do the same. I want to inspire everyone to dream, to stand
up against their past, to stand up and make sure everyone knows that NO MEANS
NO.
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