The Writing Prompt
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
The best compliment I ever received, was something that was said to me just a few short weeks ago. It was the kind of compliment that challenges everything I have ever believed about myself, this world, and how important I am in it. It also deepened my love for my husband and for myself and it challenged my perspectives of what is most important to me and what is worth sacrificing.
The Compliment
It was a normal day, and I was walking with my husband from the car into a store when he said to me in the midst of our conversation:
“I was thinking earlier, would I give up everything we have together: our (14 year) partnership and family, if it meant that you would never experience the abuse of your childhood? I would.”
I was speechless.
The Ultimate Sacrifice
In that moment, the only thing that seemed most important to me was my family. No sacrifice of my own tribulations was worth losing them and the life that I have now. Then it really hit me … this man in front of me had just told me that he would sacrifice the most important thing in his life to him, his family – for my life as a child to have been different.
I have never had anyone in my life willing to sacrifice their own happiness for mine.
I have never been loved so deeply and unconditionally before and I didn’t know how to respond in that moment.
The Safety Of Unconditional Love
I still get teary when I talk about this experience with my husband because it touches such a deep wound in me with the softest caress. It heals the little girl in me that felt unlovable and burdensome and it helps the adult woman in me step confidently into my own authenticity.
Feeling such unwavering and unconditional love challenges my idea of who I am and the world that I live in. It challenges my feeling of being unworthy of connection on such a deep and authentic level. It creates space for me to lean into the wounds of my childhood safely so that I can untangle them from the life I want to live. It is teaching me what safety feels and looks like in practice.
All the things that I deserve, all the things that I am worthy of.
On goes the journey
Looking for Ways to Connect With Other Survivors and/or Receive Support as You Heal?
Survivor’s Circle Peer Support Groups might be just what you need.
These small groups meet on alternating days of the week via Zoom. In these groups, survivors connect, share, and support each other through the ebbs and flows of healing. Attend a session and experience the magical healing that happens when survivors connect and support each other through shit only we can understand.
You can also book individual 1:1 peer support sessions with Shanon for private support in a closed space. You deserve support as you heal, and I am here to help. You don’t have to heal alone.