PROTECT YOUR LIGHT

I have a very, very dear friend, let’s call him “T”, and he reminded me of something very important this morning: Protect your light. This is something that I remind others about but I can’t seem to remember for myself...side effect of being a giver. Anywho, I want to remind you all reading this that, YOU DID NOTHING WRONG. You were not the reason you were abused. You were sought out, you were targeted because of YOUR LIGHT. Having light inside of you, i.e., a loving and giving nature, is what abusers look for. They need that vulnerability to “get in the door”. You were preyed upon for the one thing that we all should have at our core that makes us good people. You were preyed upon because you are the best of the good people. Don’t stop being you.

Now, after experiencing domestic violence, you have probably lost the “you” that you had before. That is normal. You will inevitably try to get him/her back. Sadly, that is impossible. You can’t go back. The physiology of your brain has actually changed as a result of domestic violence so you can’t go back to being the person you were, but you can become the bigger, better, strong warrior you were meant to be in the first place. That is going to take a lot of hard and consistent work. YOU ARE WORTH IT.

Keep telling yourself that everyday. I also tell myself everyday, starting a couple of days ago :), “you are strong, you are intelligent, you are confident”. That is going to reinstate my confidence. Whatever you feel you have lost within yourself and feel is holding you back from your light shining again, make that into a mantra and repeat it to yourself every time you feel less than the “You-Warrior”.

It is also imperative that you do not allow people in your life to suck the light out of you, no matter how much you want to help them. If it gets to the point that they simply refuse to respect your feelings and boundaries you have or are trying to establish for yourself, you must let them go. This is really hard to do so you are going to need people around you who genuinely care about you to help you gauge this. I have trouble doing this myself, hence the need for the reminder to “protect my light”.

We must protect our light. It is through us that the world learns how to love. No matter how badly damaged you think you are, you still have that light inside of you. Take that courageous single step everyday until you can take two steps, then three steps, and so on. There are other people out there like you...find them...surround yourself with them. You’ll be surprised how amazing it feels to have help making your light shine bright AND helping others do the same. The world needs you to be the warrior you were meant to be...SHINE BRIGHT!!