Ok, so here's a thing:  We're all human.  Most of us get that, right?  

Most of us can accept that and move through life with that understanding in our back pocket as a sort of "given" that could just sit there in that pocket for ... well, for forever ... like a whole lifetime.

We could, as some often do, go through the different stages of our lives by periodically moving on,  experiencing relationships and career and family and so on and that's that.  Some of it's good and some of it's bad but, hey .. that's life, right???

Maybe.

Sometimes,  humans cause harm and if there's someone causing harm, there's probably someone or something receiving it.  It could be any human and it could be any harm and when the harm happens is when we might take a look at that back pocket and pull out that "given" and might not like it being a given, at all.  Sometimes the harm hurts and maybe that's when it's wrong.

So what? 

I'm getting there.

My maybe turned into a probably and then eventually my world was upside down.  I went from having a "given" in my back pocket to hiding and shoving things into all of my pockets in an attempt to hide what I was going through.  All that hiding stuff lead to a very misshapen identity and I eventually ran out of pockets for shoving things I wanted to hide.

In the end, I knew I had to empty my pockets.

Today, I'm glad I did.

Yesterday?  There were lots of those where I wished I didn't have to do anything about anything or with anyone, at all.

I have suffered through twenty years of harm at the hands of a human that promised otherwise.

The harm I have endured affected me, first hand and then systematically affected everyone I loved .. as far reaching, eventually as everyone I encountered.  

Sound like a stretch? It should; however, my harm is called emotional abuse and while the man that causes the harm is human, the methods to the madness that is delivered are monstrous.

The good news?  I survive.

I learned to live and I humbly offer HELP to others being harmed.

Find shelter here.

Exhale.

It took me a long time to be able to do that .. the simplicity of it was unattainable.