Hi Clementine, I would love to share your Instagram slidedeck for this post on my page, @swallowtailcollective. Please, if you wouldn't mind reaching out, I'd beyond appreciate it.
We find this so fundamentally important - for us as deeply traumatized bunch as well as for our society at large.
Our past is something that we didn't have the courage to face for a long time, because we thought that parts of it - parts of us - were just too monstrous to ever be accepted.
And we had good reasons to feel that way. In our personal life as well as in the world we live in, abuse gets dismissed and denied all the time. There was no one willing to help us hear our own story.
We think this is a big part of why DID is still such a controversial diagnosis. Since the root cause is extreme and ongoing abuse and having no one safe in your life to turn to, people find it extremely unsettling how many of us there are.
It may sound counterintuitive…but we firmly believe that we have to acknowledge the humanity of “abusers" if we want the world to become a safer place for everyone.
Imagine a person who learns that the child of their best friend has developed DID.
Will they be more willing and able to face that truth if they assume that abusers are evil monsters that need to be exiled ( but they know that their friend is not an evil monster ) or if they believe that abusers are humans who have done something horrible and also still get to belong?
We are in the process of facing ourselves and our past now, with the help of people who have the capacity and willingness to hold our story with us.
It is hard, excruciatingly painful…yet, we can face it, knowing that - no matter what - we belong.
"When we feed into the collective mythology that violence is perpetrated by 'monsters', by those who are somehow less than human, somehow outside of humanity, we reenforce our collective dissociation. We work together to dissociate and to deny the reality that human beings have the capacity to do horrible things. This is a part of our humanity, not outside of it."
💯 This is EVERYTHING. Once I really understood this in my very cells, my relationship to disowned parts shifted dramatically. I have found deep support and refuge in community for this work in particular.
This is bringing climate anxiety/eco grief to mind. It feels like an incredible darkness to face - because it concerns billions of us, and the injustice is staggering. But the collective denial could not be clearer. A deep thankyou for your work and your writing. Kate
Thank you so much for this. This found me at the exact moment I needed to hear it. I couldn't be more grateful that you are sharing this with the world. It has finally given me hope.
Fuuuuuck! Whatever it is, you can face it. Damn. This is so powerful! I really needed to hear it this week especially, too. I have it on sticky notes around where I can see it. I woke up telling myself this. I never want a moment to pass again where I forget this (but I will, inevitably.) I wish I could tattoo it on the inside of my eyelids. I should tattoo it on my fucking forehead! I love it so much, thank you for the beauty
Hi Clementine, I would love to share your Instagram slidedeck for this post on my page, @swallowtailcollective. Please, if you wouldn't mind reaching out, I'd beyond appreciate it.
- I couldn't have said it better myself.
Beautiful and terrifying. Heartfelt and electrifying. This is a lesson I find I sometimes need a refresher in.
We find this so fundamentally important - for us as deeply traumatized bunch as well as for our society at large.
Our past is something that we didn't have the courage to face for a long time, because we thought that parts of it - parts of us - were just too monstrous to ever be accepted.
And we had good reasons to feel that way. In our personal life as well as in the world we live in, abuse gets dismissed and denied all the time. There was no one willing to help us hear our own story.
We think this is a big part of why DID is still such a controversial diagnosis. Since the root cause is extreme and ongoing abuse and having no one safe in your life to turn to, people find it extremely unsettling how many of us there are.
It may sound counterintuitive…but we firmly believe that we have to acknowledge the humanity of “abusers" if we want the world to become a safer place for everyone.
Imagine a person who learns that the child of their best friend has developed DID.
Will they be more willing and able to face that truth if they assume that abusers are evil monsters that need to be exiled ( but they know that their friend is not an evil monster ) or if they believe that abusers are humans who have done something horrible and also still get to belong?
We are in the process of facing ourselves and our past now, with the help of people who have the capacity and willingness to hold our story with us.
It is hard, excruciatingly painful…yet, we can face it, knowing that - no matter what - we belong.
"When we feed into the collective mythology that violence is perpetrated by 'monsters', by those who are somehow less than human, somehow outside of humanity, we reenforce our collective dissociation. We work together to dissociate and to deny the reality that human beings have the capacity to do horrible things. This is a part of our humanity, not outside of it."
💯 This is EVERYTHING. Once I really understood this in my very cells, my relationship to disowned parts shifted dramatically. I have found deep support and refuge in community for this work in particular.
This post saved me. I cant than you enough.
Hi Clementine,
This is bringing climate anxiety/eco grief to mind. It feels like an incredible darkness to face - because it concerns billions of us, and the injustice is staggering. But the collective denial could not be clearer. A deep thankyou for your work and your writing. Kate
Thank you so much for this. This found me at the exact moment I needed to hear it. I couldn't be more grateful that you are sharing this with the world. It has finally given me hope.
Fuuuuuck! Whatever it is, you can face it. Damn. This is so powerful! I really needed to hear it this week especially, too. I have it on sticky notes around where I can see it. I woke up telling myself this. I never want a moment to pass again where I forget this (but I will, inevitably.) I wish I could tattoo it on the inside of my eyelids. I should tattoo it on my fucking forehead! I love it so much, thank you for the beauty