This is what keeps catching me up right now. The lie – my lie – of vulnerability.

Don’t get me wrong. I know I’m healing my body from cancer and moving through chemo (round three of six this week). I know I obviously have been vulnerable to this challenge and that I’m powerless in many ways. I know that acceptance is still and always the answer to all my problems.

At the same time, while I may be powerless over the fact that cancer grew in my body, I chose to go through chemo, and that’s my power. I choose to heal my body – and take care of myself – in as many holistic and integrative modalities that feel right and good to me right now, and that’s my power. I choose to find love and joy and a mostly/sometimes positive outlook in the midst of all this sh-t, and that’s my power.

So much so that people keep telling me they don’t realize how hard it actually is for me or they’re amazed at how I keep going, keep moving, keep being out in public, and keep keeping a positive outlook. I honestly don’t realize I’m doing that…

That is my power and my reminder to myself that even within all the vulnerability of a cancer diagnosis and chemo treatment, my vulnerability is, in many ways, a lie.

The same is true for my emotional vulnerability. Like all human animals, I default to hyper-alertness to danger, real and imagined. Especially while facing the vulnerability of a cancer diagnosis and chemo treatment.

The truth is that I am safe. I can’t be abandoned. I don’t have to fight for my life. I am fine. I am whole. I am good. The childhood I had may have been filled with – and taught me – the opposite, but that fear, that hypervigilance, that vulnerability is, again, a lie.

So once again, I put my hand on my heart, I tell myself all I need to hear, I love myself beyond and I turn (way) up the volume on my self-compassion…

I remind myself of the lie of vulnerability…and I look for a yellow bird.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and please share this post with others if it resonates with you!

If you have been in ANY high control group or religion, share your story with the hashtag #IGotOut. Share on your own platform OR if you need to be anonymous and/or would like support, there are resources at the @igotout_org website.

When you see a survivor share their story, let them know they have been heard. This is such a meaningful part of the movement. We all need to know we’re not alone.

If you know someone who has been harmed by a high demand group, share #igotout posts or stories you think would help them.

Together we can bring awareness to how many of us have been harmed by high control organizations and end the shame or stigma we might feel about our experiences.

Tell your story
Impact lives
Change the world

Find out more at igotout.org