Survivor, Victim, Victor, Warrior, etc.

Everybody has the right to choose their own label. Survivor, victim, victor, warrior, etc.

My story, no matter how similar to your story, will never, no matter what, be the same. And while I might be able to empathize, or you might be able to empathize, we will never really understand the complexity of each other’s experience.

My story, no matter how similar to your story, will never, no matter what, be the same.

Therefore, how I describe what happened to me and how you describe what happened to you might be very different.

I have seen this in so many different ways.

Yesterday, a woman shared with me that while she sees how abusive her husband is, emotionally, sexually, and verbally, she does not describe him as physically abusive. Why? Well, he’s never hit her.

That doesn’t mean he has never physically hurt her. But, she explains that those times were always connected to her trying to intervene and get him to calm down.

So, while he never slapped her out of anger, he pushed her out of the way when he was raging and she was in HIS way.

You and I might look at the story and say, “Yup, that is physical abuse.” Maybe we’d try to encourage her to look at it in that way.

Yet, it is her right to define what is happening or has happened in her life the way she relates to it.

Yet, it is her right to define what is happening or has happened in her life the way she relates to it.

Thoughts?