03/20/2026
No one deserves to be abused.
It can also be hard to get out of these types of relationships once you’re in them.
Seek help if you are being abused and don’t suffer alone.
Some of us wait years to tell anyone because we are ashamed and embarrassed.
Seek help please 🙏🏻
This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever shared publicly.
But I know someone out there may need to hear it.
Abuse doesn’t start with a punch.
It starts with someone convincing you that you deserve it.
Six years ago I took this photo after the man who said he loved me beat me.
But the black eye and broken teeth wasn’t the worst part.
The worst part was the year and a half of emotional and mental abuse that slowly convinced me I was nothing.
He was charming.He knew exactly how to apologize.
And every time he promised it would never happen again…
I believed him.
I forgave him over and over again.
He made me feel smaller than a gnat. Like no one else would ever want me. Like I should be grateful he stayed.
That’s how the cycle works.
Charm. Then hurt. Then apologies. Then forgiveness.
And hope that this time it will be different.
I stayed far longer than I should have because I believed I didn’t deserve better.
But I was wrong.
It took counseling, time, and a lot of healing, but I finally broke that cycle.
Even writing this today is hard.
But if someone reading this is living in that same pattern right now, I want you to hear something I wish someone had told me back then:
You deserve kindness. You deserve respect. And you absolutely deserve better!!
