Recovering from the traumas of my life is a life-long journey. I didn’t know i was codependent until i found myself in a domestic violence shelter. I had every opportunity to leave, but still went back to my abuser. It was my fear of being alone, amongst other things. Abuse was a regular occurrence in my childhood, so it was easy to forgive and forget the abuse. I would have probably continued on this cycle of violence until nothing was left of me. But at the time, I was pregnant. Knowing I had to keep someone other than myself safe is what finally made me leave. I didn’t care if I went on the streets.
The day he kicked me in the stomach, I called an ambulance. I knew I could never go back, at the shelter I have never been treated with so much respect. I wasn’t treated as a child or a girl. I was treated as a woman on their level. I want to respect myself as much as those women respected me… Those women trusted me and believed in me enough to recommend me to Pathways. I am thankful for the wonderful women at that shelter. I will forever remember my time i spent there.
Vanessa
