Matt Pappas publishes podcasts, videos, and writes regularly on his blog, SurvivingMyPast.net. He is driven to not only heal himself from this past abuse, but to do everything possible to inspire, encourage, support, and validate survivors everywhere.

Click to tweet: Matt Pappas shares his incredible journey on the i’Mpossible Project Show!

Time Stamped Notes

• 1.42 Matt started the Surviving My Past blog in February 2016, first to help himself and then to empower other survivors of abuse
• 5.56 Matt says that the difficulties that many people experience in life can be traced back to childhood trauma
• 9.20 Matt works as an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse because there are not many male sexual abuse survivors that speak out
• 10.10 The average time for women to work through childhood trauma/abuse begins in their early to mid-thirties, and for men it’s early to mid-forties
• 11.30 Matt started working through his childhood trauma/abuse by going to a counselor/therapist in his early forties
• 13.26 Trauma can trigger memory loss and dissociative amnesia
• 16.50 Childhood abuse can manifest itself later in life within the survivor as alcoholism and depression. The survivor in some cases becomes an abuser themselves if they don’t work through their childhood trauma and abuse
• 18.50 The more a survivor empowers themselves by helping others and/or through going through the healing journey, the more power they take away from their perpetrator
• 26.15 1 out 4 girls and 1 out of 6 boys are sexually abused before their 18th birthday
• 27.23 Radical acceptance is an opportunity to accept the reality that a trauma happened to you and you deserve better and you’ll work to move forward in life in spite of the trauma
• 31.44 Matt has a Pittsburgh Steelers tattoo on his right calf (find out more fun facts about Matt in the Quick Fire Round)

Key points

• There is nothing to be ashamed of in being a survivor of abuse.
• It can take a very long time until one is ready emotionally, spiritually, and physically ready to work through trauma and abuse
• It’s important for survivors of trauma and abuse to practice self-care and self-love

Resources or Websites Mentioned

Matt’s website: www.survivingmypast.net

Matt’s social media: Twitter: @SurvivingMyPast | Facebook.com/SurvivingMyPast | Instagram.com/SurvivingMyPast