Why We Must Break the Silence Around Trauma

"It happened so long ago."
"Surely it’s better not to dwell."
"You seem fine — why bring it up now?"

I’ve heard these words — from others, and from the voice in my own head.

And for years, I listened.

For years, I carried what I could not speak.

Not just the pain — but the shame of having the pain.
Not just the grief — but the belief that it wasn’t allowed to show.

For many of us, the harm was done in childhood.
For others, it came later.

For some of us, it was spoken.
For many, it was buried for years — hidden even from ourselves.

But whatever the shape of the story, the impact remains.

We have been taught — if you don’t talk about it, it will go away.
If you live a good life now, the past won’t matter.

But that is not how trauma works.

What is unspoken lingers.
It seeps into how we trust.
How we connect.
How we parent.
How we live.

And most dangerously — into what we pass on, often without realising.

This is why I speak now.
This is why We As One exists.

Not to dwell in the past.
Not to shame.
Not to point fingers.

But because telling the truth is the only way to reclaim what was taken.

Silence protects nothing but harm.
Speaking opens the possibility for something different.

Breaking the silence is not about re-living pain.

It is about refusing to let that pain quietly shape the future.

It is about refusing to carry shame that was never ours to begin with.

It is about choosing — for ourselves, and for the next generation — to live in a different way.

And I want to be clear: this is not about a perfect ending.
This is not about being "healed."

Many of us will walk this path alone for a long time.
Many of us will speak and still not be heard — not by everyone.

But we do not stay silent for the comfort of others.
We speak because silence is too high a price to pay.

Every time one voice speaks, a small weight is lifted — even if just from that one life.

And that matters.

If you have carried pain and trama — if you still carry it now — know this:

You do not have to be defined by it.
You do not have to remain silent to protect those who chose not to protect you.
You do not have to carry what was never yours to hold.

You do not have to wait until you are "ready" or "healed" to begin living.

This is why I speak.
This is why we share our stories.

Because choosing silence means giving the past more power than it deserves.
Choosing to speak is choosing to live differently now.

That is enough.

It stops here.

Not because we are finished with healing — but because we refuse to be finished by silence.

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