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Lessons Learned with KomalLessons Learned with Komal is a place to explore life's greatest lessons. Author: Komal Minhas
Lessons Learned with Komal is a place to explore life's greatest lessons. The ones we've learned, and those we are still in the process of learning. Episodes are a mix of interviews and personal reflections from Komal. Lessons Learned is a space for you to chew on life's lessons, big and small, and hear from the people we admire most in the world. Language: en Genres: Personal Journals, Society & Culture Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Giving Women PTSD Is Part Of The Plan (How We Survive) | Audio Essay 04
Episode 4
Sunday, 4 October, 2026
Content warning: This episode includes discussion of rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, PTSD, and gender-based violence.Welcome to this week's Lessons Learned: Audio Essay -- essays on ambition, reinvention, and building a life worthy of you, written and read by me, Komal Minhas!What does sexual violence take from us long after the violence itself is over?In this essay, I reflect on sexual assault, rape culture, PTSD, misogyny, and the long-term mental health toll of gender-based violence. Prompted by the news and conversations this week about sexual assault and institutional accountability, I found myself revisiting my own experience of rape nearly two decades later—and the ways trauma can continue to shape our capacity, relationships, work, nervous system, and sense of safety long after an assault.I also share what helped me navigate a deeply triggering week: therapy, movement, boundaries with social media, difficult conversations, trusted relationships, journaling, and recognizing when witnessing becomes retraumatization rather than useful awareness.This is an essay about believing women, survivor healing, trauma recovery, women’s mental health, and reclaiming the parts of ourselves and our lives that violence tried to take from us.YOUR WEEKLY PROMPT:What care do you most need today and this week? How can you give that to yourself? Is there something you need to share with someone you love? Who and when will you reach out to them?LET'S PLAN TOGETHER!Each month, paid members of my Lessons Learned community on Substack meet with me for a 75-minute facilitated journaling and planning salon. We reflect, write, and work through the same four planning prompts each month, and decide what deserves our time and action for the month ahead.Thanks for listening!JOIN THE PLANNING SALONS: https://lessonslearnedwithkomal.substack.com/about READ THE ORIGINAL ESSAY: https://lessonslearnedwithkomal.substack.com/ LET'S HANG OUT ON IG: https://www.instagram.com/komalminhas/
