Tag: relationships

  • If I Could Love That Hard in the Wrong Place

    “To love at all is to be vulnerable.”— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves I’ve looked back at it now—really looked.At how bad it was.At the different forms it took, the different ways it showed up. Some of the things are easy to name. You can see it when a mug smashes into the wall behind…

  • What I Wish I had Known Before Reporting Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

    When I reported the my abusor, he was charged with sexual assault. But that was just a single sliver of the truth. It didn’t include the years of emotional torment, verbal degradation, financial control, psychological manipulation, technological surveillance, or the coercive control that ruled my life. And what still breaks me today is this: I…

  • 🕯️ “Why Can’t I Remember Everything?” – The Lingering Fog of Gaslighting

    You remember the fights.The apologies.The silences that screamed louder than words. You remember the way your stomach dropped at a certain look. The way you rehearsed your sentences in your head before speaking.You remember crying alone— and then wiping your face so no one would ask questions. But when you try to piece it all…

  • The Breaking Point – When Survival Becomes a Decision

    People think the breaking point is loud. Dramatic. A suitcase thrown into a car, a door slammed, a final scream echoing down a hallway. But for most survivors of abuse, it’s much quieter. My breaking point came not during the worst fight. Not when I was hit or humiliated or gaslit into silence. It came…

  • The Narcissist: A Different Breed of Abuser

    The Abuse You Never See Coming Not all abuse leaves bruises. Some abusers don’t scream, punch, or push.They smile.They charm.They manipulate you into believing you are the problem.And by the time you realize what’s happening, you’re already emotionally bruised, mentally shattered, and questioning your entire reality. The abuse may stay like this or it may…

  • Is This Even Abuse?

    Have you ever asked that question? I did. I didn’t think it was abuse unless I was being hit. For years, I told myself it wasn’t “that bad.” I believed him when he said it was my fault. That I was too sensitive. That I was imagining things. But what I was really living in…

  • 🧳 How to Build a Safety Plan — Even If You’re Still Living With Them

    You don’t have to leave today. But you do need a plan. I didn’t have a safety plan when I left. My hand was forced when the police got involved after a night that could have turned much darker. I was lucky — if you can call that kind of trauma luck. He was arrested,…

  • Why I Built This Site – and Why You’re Not Alone

    Why I Built This Site – and Why You’re Not Alone

    I didn’t set out to create a website. I set out to survive. That’s all I could think about — survival. The safety of my children. Maybe even more than my own. Everything else felt like background noise. Getting through the day, avoiding the next explosion, staying quiet, keeping the peace… that was my full-time…