Are you a survivor?

We're each and everyone of us different, for whatever reasons. For some of us, hardships break us. For some, they make us stronger - like fire on steel. We are all such vastly different creatures, all reacting differently to our situations. It's our diversity and our ability to be influenced by both genetics and our own life experiences. I really wish I had a better explanation for it, because boiling it down to 'we're all different' seems like such a cop out... but it's the way I see it.

I would have to say me and my kids are we survived 11 years of verbal abuse from their father and that was no east road but i kept the faith that one day we could get out and we did. now im married to a wonderful man (for 8 months)that i knew for over a year that treats the kids as his own :)

On a good day, I am a survivor. I live what seems like a fairly normal life, despite how horrific my situation was up until about 8 years ago. I can get through entire days without crying or screaming or even hitting everyone who walks to close to me. On a good day, I am survivor. On a bad day... maybe not so much. There are days when I just cannot be around people. Usually because my nightmares of the night before were just too much for me. Even so, I have my day, I shudder and vomit and shower for hours to try to get clean, and then the next day I'm okay. So maybe that still makes me a survivor, that I only take a day or two once every couple of years to dwell in the past. I can't tell you what makes the difference between the survivor and the victim. It could be some inborn trait, or it could just be a grain of hope you catch sight of somewhere along the way. Having one person you learn to trust, human or divine? Plain old stubborness?