I realized recently that sometimes you need to check in with yourself, and rediscover who you are. So I did just that, and decided that I would reintroduce myself to our Steemit writing community.

After being raped by a faculty member

at the University I was attending in 2017, I learned I couldn't complete my degree due to financial aid being revoked due to the occurrence. That was devastating, to say the least. I was less than six months away from the completion of my bachelor's degree. I also lost my job at the University, as the faculty member was also my supervisor. I was completely destroyed, not just from being raped and losing my job, but from losing out on my degree, something I had been working so hard to achieve. I felt that the only thing left to do was write. Disappearing into a story, would take away the painful reality of my circumstances, and so I did that until things changed, and I begun to heal.

It is the end of 2018, and I am now 28 years old.

I have spent most of my life understanding that I am not capable of having children. Now, at 32 weeks pregnant, for the first time in my life, I am getting ready to have a beautiful, healthy, little girl, our Mavis. Against all the odds and all the doctors, here I am pregnant from a man I could now never picture having been happy without. I am engaged to a man I consider to be my best friend, and the love of my life, in the most disgustingly, romantic way possible.

I found out today that the University,

feeling they hadn't handled themselves well, fixed the issue of financial aid, removed some debt they'd placed upon me, and paved the way for me to return and finish my degree which I will do in due course. Less than two years after having my life plans destroyed, I sit here writing this post, completely blessed in so many ways that I could never have predicted.

What I've learned is that life

has a tendency to bring you balance. Something extremely tragic can occur in your life, and then you feel punished or ignored by the Universe, and have a hard time not taking that personally. Holding on to the tragedy like a beacon seems to come naturally. But...if you face the pain, face the tragedy, feel the emotions, and ride them out, life turns around and brings an equally impacting good occurrence to you. Healing is the only way to receive the gifts life has waiting for you. I challenge you all to heal and to #reintroduceyourself to yourselves and to your Steemit community.

Follow me @frolickinraptors and I'll follow you back!