Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival
Author Pat Eagle’s memoir, Being Mean: A Memoir of Sexual Abuse and Survival, will be published on June 11, 2019. I have pre-ordered my copy and look forward to reading her story.
I’m grateful for many reasons that our paths have crossed. Pat and I work with the same publisher, She Writes Press. Getting to know another author whose difficult theme linked with my own, Patchwork: a Memoir of Love and Loss, has been heartening. I am grateful, in fact, for every woman who has found the courage and wherewithal to tell her story. Why? In part, the abuse is so hard to initially admit to one’s self, let alone tell others about. And the writing/telling is so healing.
Today, I want to share an excellent article Pat wrote that has just been published by Spirituality and Health. Her title is “Developing Self-Forgiveness and Self-Compassion as a Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse.” The opening words are:
Tell someone you were sexually abused as a child and soon the word “forgiveness” pops up. “Have you forgiven your abusers?” the curious predictably ask. Why does this concern, I wonder, supersede others?
Have I forgiven my abusers? When my memories began pushing through the hard crust of consciousness after being buried from age 13 to 38, forgiveness was not what came to mind. Survival was.
And now, kindly follow this link to complete reading this important, thought-provoking article. Eagle raises questions often never talked about and shares some hard earned wisdom from her long journey.