Is There REALLY a Sequel?
The first request for a sequel came only months after the publication of my personal memoir’s publication. You’re Only As Sick As Your Secrets: Sexual Abuse Awareness, Prevention, & Intervention had captivated the interest of an audience and that audience wanted to know more. When I asked “more about what” and heard the responses of “about your life now”, I just couldn’t wrap my head around wanting to know the ins and outs of what I thought was quite a mundane, unremarkable existence. But I pressed on and in 2011 (less than a year after the initial publication’s release), I took to writing the sequel.
Choosing the title was the easiest part of the process and over the years since then, I’ve assured readers that a sequel would be coming. Now, nearly 10 years later, it’s still incomplete but yet another moment of awareness has fallen into place…a moment worthy of adding to its pages. And so below, I’ve included as sneak peek into what will become part of the beginning of my sequel. It may seem heavy and possibly a bit “dark” but I’m hopeful that the content presented on the pages following it will show the incredible resilience we all possess to overcome burdens, barriers, and obstacles in order to truly become triumphant against some seemingly incredibly low odds.
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I felt so unprotected and unsafe like an initially unsuspecting prey with an unseen and unimaginable predator ready to pounce causing immense damage without a thought beyond getting its own primal need met regardless of the cost to its prey. Yet, somehow, that prey did survive but not without the battle scars and the deep woundedness that would never subside completely but rather forever alter its way of being. A way that would immediately shed all innocence of thought, sever all freedom from childlike wonder, and strip away any sense of trust that at one time was a God-given right. This prey now knew to be fearful, suspecting, alert, and aware at all times and soon developed those qualities to a level of hypervigilance where no situation fully warranted the complete release of attention to safety or a total immersion into peace.
These unnatural qualities now became the norm and sadly, set up a perception that would shift a moment of childlike laughter and awe into a moment of sheet terror; shift a carefree moment of experiential learning about a whole new world to a viewing of that whole new world as one filled with less to revel in and more to fear; shift a body that was so purely healthy with innocence to one that would be riddled with the sickness of what had left its mark on and within it.
At one time, this seemingly dark rendition of reality would fill me with a wonder of whether or not this prey could ever shift back to a time of “what was”. Yet, I remained hopeful…hopeful it could be much like the way a peaceful bird of prey now living with a wounded wing could learn to adapt its method of navigation, Hopeful that I, too, could go beyond my frightful adaptations to flourish into navigating my own altered world through love once again, scars and all.
As I wrote the stories on the pages that lie ahead, I believe my hold on that hope was a fruitful one. Though I may not be completely devoid of all the effects my experiences brought forth, I see so much evidence that I have truly found hope in the healing from the secret’s aftermath. Now, you can decide for yourself. Thank you for being one of the beautiful parts of my story!