Survivors of violence who wake up at night rarely describe their experience in dramatic terms. They do not always speak of nightmares, panic, or vivid recollections of violence.

Instead, they describe a quiet alertness, a body that listens even when the world is silent, and a form of wakefulness that feels less like fear and more like unfinished vigilance. Night becomes the space in which the past has fewer distractions and the body resumes a role it once needed to survive.

Listening to such survivors reshapes how resilience and healing are understood. Their stories reveal that recovery is not a linear return to rest nor a simple absence of symptoms.

What follows are lessons learned through sustained listening and proximity to lived experience rather than through instruction, diagnosis, or technique.

1. Night is when the body speaks most honestly.

During the day, many survivors of violence function with remarkable discipline. They work, maintain relationships, and meet responsibilities with a steadiness that often surprises others. At night, when demands fall away and control softens, the body speaks more freely about what it has learned. Waking up is not a malfunction but an expression of

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