Don is a survivor of sexual abuse by members of his family. The abuse started when he was around 5 years old and continued until he went to college in 1983. Don has been in recovery for several years. In 1991, he was paralyzed from a conversion disorder and at that time, he started on his road to healing.

Throughout his journey, he has faced anxiety attacks, depression, suicide and nightmares! As he looks back, he sees that it is possible to go from a victim to a survivor and today as a result of his journey, his life has changed in ways he could have never imagined. One of the things that Don has used over the years in his healing is that of writing. Poems, stories, and thoughts have helped him piece so many missing parts of his life together.

A Journey Through Words includes many of those things he has written. His only hope is that it will touch the lives of all who read the words and that it will have a special place of love and compassion in their hearts.

This book includes stories, poems, photos and published newsletter articles that Don has written during the course of this healing part of his journey. While some of the pages in here may be difficult to read and render a different view upon life, there are parts of this book that show the hope, optimism and depict healing as it was happening during his journey.

Poem: The Window Is Not My Cage

The window is not my cage!
The window is my world!

Dark skies don't mean future storms,
For the storms have already passed my way.

Bare trees don't mean life is dead,
For the trees are waiting for new life ahead.

Cold skies don't mean winter has just begun
Instead, it is a promise of summer to come.

As the light of the day gives way to the night,
Peacefulness and stillness are allowed to take flight.

It becomes so easy to believe that we are lost in a storm,
Only to find that when the seas subside, we stand on higher ground.

Often life is filled with turbulence and wind,
And often we are reminded of the anchor within.

When we feel like everything around us, is pushing us down,
It is then that we must stand up, and have a look around!

by Don Shetterly (c) 5/15/2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Reach For The Top

Christmas Cheer

Alone On The Mountain

Worthless

A Nightmare Of Terror

Show Me Your Face

Relaxation

Angels Are Watching Over Me

I Am Sometimes

Rage

I'm A Survivor

Interview With Fear

On Boundaries

Sometimes The Rain May Come

Memories

Control, Fear, And Who I Am

Change Is Good

A Special Place

Just You

Let My Friend Know

Integration

It Is My Life

For A Friend

Voices

I Can't See It?

Life Is Hope

I Shed Some Tears

Break The Silence

The Hope To See It Through

I Look Into Your Eyes

New Worlds

Discovering New Worlds

The Window Is Not My Cage

New Heights

Rise Again

Encouragement

In Memory Of My Mom

A Little Boy, A Big Piano

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

My Story