Egli: Forgiving myself has helped me cope with being abused as a child

It has taken time for me to understand that as a small child, I did not have the ability to push back against what was happening. Survivors, you have done nothing wrong. Try to give yourself space for a fresh start.

Almost immediately, emails, texts and posts started rolling in. I had known there would be a reaction to what I had written, but I was not at all prepared for the volume of response. More impactfully, I was not ready for the number of people who reached out and shared that they or a family member had also been abused. As the day wore on, it became overwhelming, and I worried that I might have started a conversation I wasn’t equipped to carry on. So many had secrets similar to mine, and I wasn’t sure I could help. Read More