Julie Jewels Smoot

Think about that. A service member experiences sexual violence, and instead of receiving protection, compassion, and accountability, that person may find themselves facing hostility from the very people responsible for their welfare.

Healing did not take away my voice. Peace did not make me passive. And compassion did not make me willing to tolerate bullshit.

Moments when explanations cannot reach the places where fear, grief, exhaustion, and emotion have been carried for years. Moments when what we need is not another conversation, another solution, or another instruction about how to heal. Sometimes, what we need is to experience being held. Not restrained. Not controlled. Not touched without permission.

A woman laying on her back on a mat on the floor I need to move. Not because I am running from what happened. But because I am learning that my body deserves to experience something beyond survival. I need to move my arms. To feel my feet connecting with the earth. To sway. To stretch. To breathe. To allow the rhythm of my own body to guide me. I need to cry. Not because I am weak. Not because I am falling apart. But because there are tears I have not yet allowed myself to ex