You need to know this first...

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To better understand my story, you need to look through both lenses of lived and generational trauma. It is a story of assault and abuse within the spectrum of human relationships.

 

I experienced CSA early in life. I have learned my “no” does not carry the same weight as others. Very seldom am I given autonomy over my body. 

 

You must understand the weight of prejudice and racism. The world I lived in growing up did not offer an understanding of differences. The slightest deviation was a license to attack. 

 

Bullying was, and is, a constant. 

 

I carried the weight of an unaccommodated disability, suppressing my needs so painfully that a slice on my skin felt like relief. 

 

As a teen, a car accident left me with a brain injury that went undiagnosed for a decade, while my symptoms were misdiagnosed. 

 

The treatments for the misdiagnoses did more harm than good.

After I discontinued treatment, the prescribing doctor told me to continue “or else [my] family would stop loving [me], kick [me] out, and [I] would die alone on the street or in a 'psych ward.'” 

 

You need both hands to count how many times I tried to go Home in my life. 

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Once I prioritized my intuition, I started healing. 

When I ignored the advice, I started thriving. 

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I am neurodivergent, my experience of this world is different from most. 

With autonomy, I flourish. 

With respect, I grow.

 

Only when you understand the combined weight 

of all of the details,

of all of the above, 

can you understand Me. 

 

My story,

My work,

My requests for respect. 

 

- LN -