SwanWaters

This is my life. In these pages you will see the chronicling of my journey from deliverance to liberation to recovery from abuse. If you are a survivor, I promise that you will see yourself. If you aren’t sure whether you are in an abusive relationship, I hope that my stories will help you to discern your own situation with clarity.

This collection comprises over two years of my writing for a support site I started years after I had finally ended my marriage. I promised myself at the time that I would keep the writing raw, so that others having the same experiences could feel that I was able to truly understand them, for so few people do.

I have designed this to be read as a situational resource. In other words, whatever you are facing in the moment can probably be addressed by one of the specific sections. Each essay has information that takes time to internalize, so a little at a time is best. This also means you can re-read each entry multiple times to get the most out of it, when you really need it. If you do it right, recovery from abuse is a special kind of grieving process. You have to get through the grief to find your strength and give the abuser a giant middle finger.

You might think that journaling for emotional healing sounds too good to be true. Can simply putting pen to paper actually help you make sense of your story? Can it really help you recover from abuse? Is it possible that doing something as simple as writing can help to create healthy emotional balance? Short answer? Yes!

This book is based on my own experiences and learning. And I have filled it with some of my favorite techniques and resources in the hope that you might find them useful.

This is intended to become your own document. So, please, add your own ideas, stories, and insights. Use it to journal, collect ideas, and to keep track of your own resources. Get a deeper understanding of yourself, your past experiences, and how you can move from surviving to thriving.