Freedom

17 years ago I got married for the second time. We were blessed with a warm, crisp and sunny Autumn day and were surrounded by family and friends in the small country house hotel we had exclusive use of for the event.

Little did I know then what experiences that marriage would bring me.  I’d been married before to a physically and sexually abusive man who had beat me up for the first time on our wedding night. I was adamant that my second marriage would be for life.

My husband had quite literally swept me off my feet, carrying me in his arms on our first date when I had my leg in plaster and we had to climb some stairs.  He was tall, dark and handsome and that gesture won many smiles, comments and claps of approval as he showed all onlookers that he would look after his woman.

Less than 2 years into our marriage and I was feeling that something wasn’t quite right.  It would be another 2 years before I left, a shell of the woman I used to be.

At first, I shrugged off his somewhat insensitive comments about my appearance, how he would belittle me in public or treat me with complete disrespect. I thought that I must be mishearing his outdated and misogynistic comments about women being second class citizens and belonging in the kitchen or the bedroom. And when I challenged him about it he would tell me I should be grateful that he didn’t beat me like my first husband had.  What’s worse is that I actually agreed with him. Over time I had been indoctrinated to believe that he was right, I was wrong and that I couldn’t cope with day to day life without him guiding me.

When he sold our house without telling me and bought a new house, 30 miles away in the middle of nowhere, far from anyone we knew, I trusted him when he said it was only a temporary measure and if I was that unhappy we could move back.  I trusted him when he told me that I was an alcoholic and needed help, standing over me as I called AA in tears, because I drank one glass of wine per night and on the nights I didn’t pour my own, he would pour me a large vodka and tonic, telling me ‘I needed one’.  I believe him when he told me that I was incapable of looking after our son because I’d never had children before and didn’t know what to do.  I believed him when he dissuaded me from cuddling our son because it would lead to attachment issues.  And I believed him when he told me that him taking family photos or videos and leaving me just out of shot was accidental.  All the while I was trying to keep a business afloat and a roof over our head because he wasn’t working.

When I left, I left our son with him and I believed that was the right thing to do.  I also believed that I would be free of what I now know was psychological abuse or coercive control.

How wrong I was.  That was just the start.  The 12 years that have followed have been the years that I have had to pay emotionally, financially and metaphorically for having the audacity to leave him. And they have been far, far harder than the years I was married to him.  Two lengthy and expensive court battles to prove that I was fit to be the resident carer of my son were the least of it.  The staggering attempts at parental alienation to discredit me in front of my son, the social services and anyone else who would listen.  The pursuit of my destruction, whatever it takes, to prove that everything he said and believed about me was right.

The two attempts to take my own life because I couldn’t take the abuse any more were long after I’d left him.  I’d reached the end of my tether and I’d run out of energy to carry on fighting.  Watching his father take metaphorical pieces out of me was damaging my son and I wasn’t prepared to put him through anymore.  Thankfully, I didn’t succeed in my attempts but I was far from out of the woods and headed down some dark and dangerous paths before eventually I was fortunate to find a fantastic therapist adept at working with survivors of abuse.  I met a partner who had first known me long before I met my second husband and who supported me in working through the abuse I had endured in both marriages and a subsequent financially abusive relationship.

Working through everything I’d endured gave me strength I didn’t know I had, it helped me to re-evaluate my life and redefine my relationships not just with myself but with my partner and my son who now lives with me.  It gave me the courage to believe in myself and embark on a six-year psychology and counselling degree with the Open University.  It opened new doors of opportunity for me as my self-belief, self-confidence and self-esteem returned.  It made me determined that I would do whatever I could to try and ensure no-one else, regardless of gender, ended up an abusive relationship.

That’s a huge undertaking.  There will always be those who abuse others.  But if sharing my experiences and learning helps just a few more people, who go on to help others by modelling strong, healthy and robust relationships, then it will all have been worth it.

Change is scary, leaving your abuser is scary, the abuse never stops it just changes. It’s how you respond to those changes that matter.  I still get ‘abuse’ every day, these days it’s usually sad attempts to discredit and belittle me in front of my son.  I spend many days worrying about when ‘pay back’ is going to happen but these days I know I’m strong.  I can take on any of the attacks that are coming because now I have a solid foundation built on trust, love and self-respect; all of the values that eluded me in my marriage.

Now I truly am FREE.

To help me share my story and give hope to millions of domestic abuse sufferers and survivors around the world please register to hear me speak at the Introbiz Global Summit alongside greats such as Les Brown, Brian Tracy, Sharon Lechter, Rob Moore, Lisa Johnson.

To learn more about my work please register for my FREE live training, 5 Days to Redefine your Relationships.