The sense of shame that I felt after the incident stayed with me for a long time. I questioned myself endlessly, replaying the night in my mind, wondering if I had done something wrong.
The fear that lingered wasn’t just about the immediate danger but about my own sense of vulnerability. I didn’t know what to do, and no one seemed to have prepared me for this kind of emotional and physical upheaval.
As time went on, I realized that the root cause of everything—the confusion, the fear, the shame—was a lack of education.
I didn’t know what to expect from my own body, and because of that, I was ill-prepared to handle a situation that, in hindsight, could have been avoided. There’s a powerful lesson in that:
that the more we understand our bodies, the better equipped we are to handle whatever life throws our way. And that knowledge isn’t just physical; it’s emotional and psychological, too.
What I wish I had known then, what I hope others can learn from my experience, is that it’s not enough to just go through life blindly.
It’s important to have open conversations about our bodies—about our health, our safety, and our emotional well-being. It’s critical that we stop pretending that these things are “too awkward” to talk about.
By educating ourselves about what’s going on with our bodies, by learning the right steps to take to protect ourselves, we can avoid the fear, the confusion, and the shame that often accompany unexpected situations.
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