Why I’m Writing This Story
Published: @November 16, 2025
When life becomes unbearable—when we aren't ready or equipped to face what's happening—we sometimes slip into a shell, the way a frightened turtle does. We hide. We deny. We forget. We create a version of ourselves who can endure what we can't.
In his book The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk writes that trauma becomes trauma when the experience fails to integrate into the continuous stream of our life. When something is too overwhelming—rape, an accident, a beating, a war—the memory doesn't settle. It stands apart, unprocessed and alone. And when we recall it, it doesn't return as a memory. It returns as a flashback, collapsing the distance between then and now.
But speaking it aloud—shaping it into a story that belongs to the rest of our life—can loosen its grip. It can make the past something we hold, instead of something that keeps breaking into the present.
Writing this book has been that process for me. It has given my experiences language and shape. It has been, in a way, years of sitting with a quiet, patient listener.
I hope you read these pages, laugh with me, cry with me, and remember the poor little child now and then—could be you, could be me.
Then, when you're ready, gather her into your arms, gently, and tell her finally, "Everything will be alright."
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The SteelMaker’s Daughter
© 2025 The SteelMaker’s Daughter by Yuni J. All Rights Reserved.
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