The Tao of Self-Confidence

4How to Unlock Our Traumas

When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I was walking to the library when an older Caucasian man bumped into me. He was probably in his 40s, and all I could remember was that he had a mustache.

At the time, I thought it was my fault that I bumped into him but something felt off. When the man bumped into me, he was in my personal space for a good amount of time to touch me and my body. When he was done, he walked away, but he turned his head back and looked at me with this evil smile, like he was so satisfied to feel me up. I'm not too sure how to describe it, but that man's smile has haunted me till this day.

I never told anybody because I felt so ashamed that something like that happened to me, like it was my fault. How was I supposed to know at that age what that man did was inappropriate? For the longest time, I forgot that this incident happened to me. I locked it away like it never happened. It was actually the height of the #MeToo movement that triggered me to remember this incident happened. When I started seeing women sharing their stories of how they were sexually assaulted or harassed, my own incident started to pop back into my head, and instead of feeling shame, I realized I wasn't the only woman who had gone through something like this.

Everyone has a story to tell and sharing these situations is never easy. There are all kinds of feelings that come up. You feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, and ashamed. Sometimes you feel like the world will ...