So many of us—I most definitely include myself in this—are having to relive traumas over and over as more and more people are finding the courage to speak out about sexual harassment/abuse/assault. In my newspaper column, I wrote about Trump’s election being like “a punch in the gut” because I’m a sexual abuse/assault/harassment surviver. It’s gotten worse lately, even though I’m sure that more people speaking out is better in the long run.
I’ve just realized that for my own mental health, I need to unplug from all the various social media sites for a while. I need to regain some control about how often and when I am exposed to conversations about assault and abuse. For a while, that means turning off twitter and Facebook, and not posting here.
My Bangor Daily News column in October was about being kind to people because you never know what they are going through. So many of us are being forced to relive traumas and, speaking for myself, that means I’m especially tender and vulnerable. Let’s all be gentle with each other, okay?
(I’m cueing this up to post later, I’m stepping away from the non-work computer use for a while.)