And when you allow this doubt, this inability to cope and comprehend to fester, the fall out is huge. You withdraw, you become a shell of what you use to be. You transform into this shadow. You skirt the issue. You make excuses. You don’t address the giant elephant in the room that is stomping its feet and roaring to be spoken about and acknowledged. And you do this all to yourself because you don’t want to grieve.

But we need to grieve. We need to realize that this has happened and that we might not ever be the same. We need to realize that are sense of security and our ideas of the world have been completely altered because of the actions of one individual and we need to stop pretending that everything is alright, because it isn’t. It’s not alright to be raped and it’s not alright to be assaulted. Furthermore, it is not alright to pretend it never happened. Because it did.

Address the issue. Address it and grieve over what happened to you. Let your emotions run through you. Cry. Scream. Get that negative energy out of yourself in the healthiest way possible and do not let it change who you. When you allow a traumatic event to fester inside of you like an infection, it is going to make you absolutely sick. It’s going to change you. You won’t know it until it is too late and you can’t do anything to change it. So, grieve.