I decided I was worth something. I was worth boundaries and respect. It was the day I told my parents that I’d no longer have anything to do with them
There is a fine balance between being prepared for legitimate threats, and just being anxious and obsessive.
One of the things we survivors of abuse have in common is the inability to get our abuser to just go away after the relationship is over.
Even the most well-meaning person, if not the survivor of abuse, can ask themselves why did she not leave the situation? (Or he of course, since men are targets of domestic abuse too) After all, it’s a logical question, particularly when the target stays in the abusive relationship sometimes for decades. It’s so incredibly hard to understand if you have not lived it, but for those of us who have, there are four common reasons behind why we stay.