How education changed my world...

In the 6th grade I learned the abuse my maternal grandfather subjected me to had a name in class.  I was a quiet student that cried at night because I thought I wasn't pretty.  As boys became interested in me in high school, I lost interest in books.  It took me 3 years to figure out what I was doing in college.  I had outer body experiences of just being numb.  Cutting relieved my anxiety, but the act scared me.  I went to the counseling department and they got me into drawing my feelings.  After an abusive relationship ended and I was suicidal, I found a psychotherapist.  I learned to overcome my deep fears and sadness with the assistance of psychotherapy and medication.  Icing on the cake came when I moved away from my hometown to get a graduate degree.  The change of environment and friends gave me the greatest sense of security.  While my fears returned after getting my masters, my education was always there to open a new door with a new job invariably.  I learned to live with deep fears and a diagnosis of bipolar disorder that I always felt was really PTSD.  I was flooded by fears and memories of all I did to survive in my college years. The diagnosis felt like a sock in my mouth to cover up my experience as a crime victim.  I felt sub-human with this label and alienated from humanity, as my friends abandoned me one by one.  As I recovered I found peer support education.  Peer support was my key in returning to humanity.  I found support and friends, then ultimately a career I love.  The more I learn about trauma, the more in my skin I become.    My education in peer support and psychology were life changing.