Fear. Love. Family. Money. Shame. Isolation.
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Those are just a few reasons for the question: “Why didn’t you just leave?”
According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, most women will, on average, attempt to leave an abusive relationship between five and seven times before successfully and permanently doing so. Leaving an abusive relationship is the time a woman or her children are most likely to be seriously harmed or murdered by their partner. The reality is that leaving an abusive relationship is often a task that endangers the woman and calls for resources that aren’t readily available.
We all have a story. And we tell these stories in hope that they will help others who are being abused. To enlighten people that this does happen.. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE DOES HAPPEN! It can happen to anyone. Anyone like my mom.
The phenomenon “crazy love.” Like many other women and men experience each year, started with adoration, moved on to isolation, and culminated in extreme manipulation — and violence. From the outside looking in, our lives looked picture perfect. Perfect home, perfect wife, perfect kids, perfect car, perfect job, and just PERFECT everything. But our life was just the opposite. My mother suffered years of abuse before fleeing. But stayed for over a decade trying to make things work.
After 13 years of abuse, my mother eventually divorced my abusive father. And ever since then, our lives have been at peace.
Growing up in an abusive home is extremely tough and can cause a range of emotions, like resentment, guilt, fear, grief, and anger. When abuse is happening in a household, it can affect whole families – including children who are witnesses to the abuse and violence. It can be especially difficult if you are still living at home or have younger siblings still living at home.
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I hope telling our story will prompt people to speak up and speak out. Sharing your stories of abuse helps you to heal and helps those living in abuse realize they’re not alone.
Survivors have the strength to live through domestic violence, the strength to fight it and break free. There is light at the end of the tunnel, there is hope and there is freedom.