What Healing Means to Me Healing is a process—one without a timeline or expiration date. You can’t mark a date on the calendar and say, “I’ll be healed by then.” It’s not linear or predictable. It’s messy, complicated, and deeply personal. For me, healing has been about taking small, consistent steps toward reclaiming my life. Many things have helped along the way. I journaled to give my emotions a voice when I couldn’t say them out loud. I researched to understand what I was going through because knowledge brought clarity. I sought out others who understood—people who could say, “I see you, and you’re not alone.” But the most important part of my journey has been learning to like myself. And honestly, that’s still a work in progress. For so long, I let others define my worth, but I’ve started to see that I am enough, just as I am. I’ve also learned how to be alone, not in a lonely way, but in a way that gives me peace. Happiness isn’t something that comes from other people or circumstances—it’s something I’ve found within myself. Knowing that I am free to make my own choices now, that I can chart my own path, has been a cornerstone of my healing. Even better, knowing I can use my story to help others makes this journey all the more meaningful. I am better. I am good. I am motivated. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still have hard days. Sometimes, something—a sound, a memory, a random trigger—takes me back. For a fleeting second, I feel that old fear, the terror that he’s back to finish what he started that night with the gun. But then I remind myself: I am safe. I am okay. Healing isn’t about erasing the past; it’s about learning to live with it in a way that no longer defines you. It’s a process—ongoing, imperfect, and uniquely mine. And every day, I take another step forward.