Hello
Hello, I'm new to the group. I'm a 55-year-old sexual abuse survivor. I was sexually abused by an adult male neighbor when I was around the age of 9 or 10. Over the years I compartmentalized my experience and simply moved forward with my life. I normalized the depression, lack of self-worth, numbness, and all the other negative consequences of my experience. I've raised a family, I have an amazing wife, and I've been professionally successful. How and the hell I managed all that I'll never know. Unfortunately, COVID threw me into a tailspin that landed me in therapy for the first time and caused a nervous breakdown. I was able to hide the seriousness of how bad I was from my wife, friends, therapist, and work. I simply soldiered on somehow. I was able to get back on my feet emotionally and kept moving forward...I'm a survivor, that's what we do. I've reached out to a couple of friends recently; and shared my story, in an attempt to finally deal with this. I've come to realize that I've paid a heavy price for putting this off for so long.