Hey everyone, while I’m working on getting the website completed and the first podcast live, here’s a little bit about the what and why of Valaria is Us. Please feel free to love, like, and share so that we can start building a strong community of survivors that can support each other as we find ourselves again. Healing is a journey, not a destination, and I’m here with you every step of the way.
Why Valaria Exists: My Story
Valaria was born from my lived experience as a survivor of childhood sexual assault from ages 10-12. I spent decades trying to come to terms with what had happened to me, fighting poor self-esteem, lack of self-love, and extensive self-criticism. During those years, I wouldn’t admit to anyone what had happened to me, and often took other’s bad behavior as no worse than what I probably deserved. In my late 20s, that began to change.
I met my soulmate, who is an amazing human being, and told him about my experience. He has continued to support me and be a solid sounding board over the years as I have healed from this experience and built my self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-love processes. He’s also helped me discover who I am again. Unfortunately, many individuals do not have this kind of support in their lives at the moment.
As I began to talk about my experience with more people, I realized how many other women had similar stories and similar psychological and self-love issues. Driving home one day from work, I realized there wasn’t a lot of resources available specifically to survivors of sexual assault from other survivors who understood the setbacks and concerns that they are facing. From those discussions and those thoughts, a mission and ministry was born.
The Meaning of Valaria & Valaria is Us
Valaria started out as an online name that I particularly liked and felt drawn to, but I didn’t understand its full meaning at first. While homeschooling my daughter’s high school years, we studied Latin, and I decided to see if I could find the meaning of the word. When I did, it was a complete revelation.
Valaria means strength, courage, and health, traits that many survivors of sexual assault feel they no longer have and often feel they may never have again. When you’ve been violated in that manner, it’s very common to feel fragile, hunted, and exposed.
However, those traits are not gone, they are simply in hiding as you deal with the trauma you survived. As you work through your trauma, you will begin to see hits of strength, bravery, and returning health as you learn to love yourself again.
This is why Valaria is Us.
When searching for a domain, I wanted to find something simple, Valaria-dot-something. Then it hit me. The domain extension .us technically stands for the United States, but it also spells out the word US. Worldwide, one in three women have suffered some type of sexual assault in their lifetime, which means over one billion women have gone through what I have, what you have, what your loved one has, and what countless others worldwide have suffered.
Given the mission of helping survivors through their trauma, I wanted to instill this value from day one: that all women can be Valaria with some work. Every survivor deserves the opportunity to reclaim who they are as a strong, brave, healthy woman. Valaria isn’t a single woman or a single story, but represents all women who are rebuilding after trauma. From this, Valaria is Us was born. It’s no longer just my story, it’s yours as well. Let’s write it together.
Until next time,
Valaria Femina