In Spite of It All

by Kimberly C. Jones©

In the face of change,
it can feel safer to continue to live
in the shadow of our trauma—
letting it stain the edges of our days,
letting it tint the world in colors
we never chose,
letting it whisper lies
about who we are
and who we’re allowed to become.

It is a difficult cycle to break.
Familiar pain can feel safer
than unfamiliar freedom.
Old wounds know how to speak,
and they speak loudly.

For a long time,
I didn’t realize how much of my life
was shaped by what hurt me.
How many decisions were made
from fear instead of desire,
from memory instead of possibility.

But I am learning—
slowly, deliberately—
to live in spite of my trauma.
Not by pretending it never happened,
not by silencing the truth of it,
but by refusing to let it be
the author of my story.


I survived it.
And survival is not the end—
it is the doorway.

Now I am learning
to step into the light
that was always meant for me,
to see myself without the shadow,
to breathe without the weight,
to choose a life
that my trauma never imagined
I could have.

I survived it.
And now,
I am learning to live.