October - Domestic Violence Awareness Walk

Link to Me, Myself and I Blog post

A very touching story about a survior, and how she changed her life!

Since,I reflected on what I should say.I want to offer hope.

My life is as different as night and day since I was in shelter.Entering
shelter was the best gift I ever gave myself although I didn't see it that way
at the time.When I entered I couldn't have been lower physically,mentally,spiritually and financially.It was maybe the darkest time in my life.I was hopeless.I entered because I didn't know what else to do.I guess looking back it was the last of what survival instincts I had left.I was suicidal.Not that I was going to harm myself necessarily but it was more like if I was diagnosed with cancer I would have refused treatment;if I was going to be struck by a car I wouldn't have jumped out of the way.I was put on a suicide watch for 45 days.To say I was despondent would be an understatement.

I can recall my first time on the patio at the shelter after completing my intake and staring out into the distance wondering how I got to that place in my life.My life literally flashed before me like a slide show.I believed I was somehow a bad person because I was the common thread that ran through these experiences.My intake worker had commented that no I wasn't.It was a set of circumstances set into motion made early on by others that caused me to make wrong decisions in my life.That was so foreign to me at that moment.I was raised in a good home by two parents who were faithfully married until the passing of my Mother.I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school.Catholics didn't have these kinds of situations.In my adult life I fell away from the Catholic faith but searched out and discovered my Christianity.If prayer would fix this kind of situation it would have been fixed 100 x's over.

And the poster ends...............

My hope for the victims living the life I used to is to have the courage to
implement a change in your own life.Call a shelter for help.A safety plan will
be formed to assist you to get out.

If I could survive it you can too.I had no money,no car,no home and no self-esteem.Not low self-esteem,none.I was sick,disabled and my nervous system was a wreck.There is hope;it doesn't get better overnight but it does get better and better than you could imagine it today.The help won't come to you by wishing it would.You have to take the action.It may the most courageous thing you ever do for yourself. You may think it just doesn't matter anymore.It always matters.You may think you are trying to keep the family together for your kids.You couldn't be doing something more harmful for your kids.The cycle will continue.Love your children enough to break the cycle if you can't do it for yourself.Be your own best friend.If you were
your best friend what would you advise your friend to do?

If you are a member in the community who believes domestic violence and abuse doesn't affect your life you are so wrong and ill informed.We all are affected.It happens in your neighborhood,every neighborhood.It affects the work place.It affects the schools.You pay for it through higher medical costs and hospital fees.You pay for it through law enforcement and the judicial system.The effect on humanity is uncalculated but it is high.The affect it has on humanity is profound.How may lives are not reaching their potential because of this situation.Society is affected as a whole.It's a blight on all of us while we stand by and do nothing.If there is nothing else you think you can do you can pray.Pray earnestly for the victims.Pray for the abusers.Chances are they were abused themselves.Not an excuse but a reason.

Adopt a family through your local domestic violence shelter and assist them to get back out into society and contribute to society.Make a donation to your local shelter.Call and ask what way you could help the most within your means.I can only hope my experience can help even one person to make a change in their life.

The post was very touching!!

If you enjoyed this post and wish to be informed whenever a new post is published, then make sure you subscribe to my regular Email Updates. Subscribe Now!

Thanks For Making This Possible! Kindly Bookmark and Share it: