I’ve thought long and hard about how to go about this. Opening up about something personal, about something I’ve thought so much about for so long, is never easy, but I finally feel ready to share my story in hopes that it will open the eyes of those around me.

I was sexually assaulted on February 22, 2015. What I assumed to be a night out with some friends at a fraternity party took a drastic turn for the worst and resulted in me being violated in every way possible. Drinking and dancing turned into forceful grabbing and groping. Things I had only heard horror stories about were happening to me. I was drunk, of course, but regardless of my level of intoxication, one thing remains certain:

I never thought it would happen to me.

Sure, I had seen the nightly news at least five days a week. Sure, I had heard of the girls that were drugged out at a bar and had woken up naked and alone in an alleyway. Sure, I had friends who were pushed beyond their limits with nameless young men at parties.

None of those girls were me.

I had sympathy for these women, but back then, I couldn’t ever imagine how horrifying it must have been to be taken advantage of at your most vulnerable point. I couldn’t understand how something so awful could even happen. In my mind, everyone was young, beautiful and flawless.

One night out, one moment in time, completely changed my mind on my perception of our world, society, and reality.

As a generation, we walk through life blissfully, completely ignorant. We think our lives lie protected in a bubble. We think that nothing and no one can touch us.

But every single day, someone just like us – our age, our social class, our religion is killed. Every day, someone is raped. Every day, something unimaginably horrific happens, and unless it happens to us, we don’t think twice.

We continue to binge drink. We continue to text and drive and go 20 mph over the speed limit. We continue to do these asininely stupid things that put our lives and the lives of others in danger.

I’m not saying that we should stop living, but I am saying that we need to wake up and look around us.

We can never imagine what something is like until we go through it, but more importantly, we never think that anything bad will happen to us until it does, and by then, it’s too late.

I ask you, the reader, now, how would your life change if this happened to you? To your mother, sister, daughter or best friend?

Bottom line: It can happen to you.

Why must we wait until it’s already happened to do something about it?