Some advice from kidnap survivor Elizabeth Smart to other kidnap survivors: "Hang on. Keep moving forward. Take one step at a time. It will get easier."
And this: "You have a new, and different, life now - a new normal. This new life can be something good if you make it that way."
"Elizabeth's Story," written in her own words, is part of a 63-page survivor's guide aimed at adolescents that is being unveiled today by the U.S. Department of Justice during a ceremony in Washington, D.C.
You're Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment, was co-written, with assistance from the DOJ and mental health professionals, by Smart and four others who were kidnapped at young ages.
Each has a different story.
One was raped, strangled and shot by a stranger. Another was lured from her home by an Internet predator who chained her to a dog collar and abused her. One boy was taken by his father, who moved him around the country, used false names and made him "live a lie."
The writers address various recovery themes, such as "learning to trust," "finding your strength," and "taking care of yourself." The publication also lends advice on how to deal with the media, police investigations, the court process, returning to school, and finding additional help and resources.
Smart, now 20, did not share details of her knife-point abduction from her Federal Heights home at the age of 14. Nor did she reveal anything about the nine months of living with her captors - a homeless, religious fanatic and his wife authorities say wanted Smart for a plural wife.
"What happened is your story," she writes, "which you can choose to share or to keep private."
Smart does write about "reaching out" to family members and her grandfather, and says her LDS faith helped her understand "why I had to go through what I did." She says one of the ways she got through "her experiences" once she returned home was to "set goals, to work continually toward those goals, and then to set new ones."
The Brigham Young University music performance student advises against "living in the past."
"I made a conscious decision that my abductors had already taken away nine months of my life, and I certainly was not going to give them any more time than that," she writes.
Smart acknowledges many aspects of her life have changed.
"But . . . it is important to remember that just because something bad happened to you, it doesn't mean you are bad," she writes. "You are still entitled to every possible happiness."
shunt@sltrib.com