Writing to Heal Isn’t About Likes or Pay

Earlier this year, I heard about a woman who started an organization entitled, “Transcending Sexual Violence through Yoga.” I read about her and asked if she would let me interview her.

Her name is Zabie and she is kind and warm. She starts her day with sun salutations but is down to earth as well. She isn’t afraid to admit to a daily Starbucks habit.

She doesn’t pretend to be perfect or know what is best for others. She is clear that she has discovered one approach that makes recovery from sexual trauma feel and go better for herself and others. She’s eager to share that information and experience with others. My hope, is that with Heal Write Now, I can do the same.

I know writing heals. Sometimes the healing is in the writing and sometimes it is in the reading.

Journal writing and free-writing are what I do for myself. It’s where I let my guard down, with myself as much as with other people. I told my friend Kathy tonight that writing is like truth serum. Instead of being shot up in the arm with a needle I stab the page with my pen and let the words flow.

Memoir writing is where craft comes in and I polish and organize and structure thoughts and images.

Profile writing is when questions become flashlights shining into people. In those cases, it is their words I study and dust so that they can be placed on a paper mantle and seen.

Before I meet a person I may have an idea of who they are, how they are and what brought them to their profession or passion. It’s always guessing on my part until they speak. If I can shut up and listen long enough they will share.

The profile I wrote was published in Elephant Journal. If 2500 people read it in 24 hours it gets a more prominent site on the home page which means it will reach even more people and maybe qualify one to get paid. This piece has 691 views and 81 people have shared it on their Facebook page. If I was hoping for the most read article pay day I’d be disappointed. But I’m not.

Why?

Because 1 woman wrote in the comments that she was assaulted and almost raped and killed last week. A real person. She said she was grateful for the article which made her feel like she wasn’t crazy for using yoga and breathing to get centered (as well as going to a therapist to talk soon).

I cried. That is why I choose to write about sexual assault, sexual abuse and recovery from trauma. She, the woman of initials who I will probably never meet, is why I write and have this website.

Someday, I hope magazines publish as many articles about violence against women as they do about make-up tips and anti-aging or even 1/10th. Someday I hope less women (and men too) will be able to say they are survivors of trauma or abuse. Maybe in the future, there will be a reference to a time way back when when 20% of college women were assaulted and 1 in 4 (or 1 in 3) women were victims of sexual abuse.

Hopefully, those statistics will seem unthinkable in the future.

But until that time is here, even if I am a one-song wonder singing the same notes again and again and again, I will. It is a luxury to be able to give a person assaulted by sexual assault or trauma, who is on the internet searching for something, words that affirm or validate or encourage, to let her know about another rape survivor or some healing approach.

I am so grateful I have had the time not only to write but to focus on topics so close to my soul and bone. So grateful. Sometimes I can obsess about likes or money, career moves or the brand and platform. But all of that is to serve the purpose of getting to the person on the other side of the screen who does or doesn’t comment but maybe feels less alone. Period.