So It's Been a While...

As the title indicates, it's been a while. So long, I don't even want to total up the months, days, hours since I posted on this blog. A lot of life has happened. A lot of difficulty has arisen. A lot of tears have been shed, yet today I was reminded of why this blog exists.

A friend of mine reached out for help. She reached out because she knows enough about my story to know I would believe her when she asked me to send someone to her apartment to help her. She reached out over a work messaging account, so I knew her phone must have been inaccessible. I called her local police department and asked that their officers conduct a welfare check on my friend and her toddler. I was triggered and grateful and worried and a whole host of other emotions. But I mostly felt gratitude that my friend knew she could call me, that she knew I would do what I could to ensure her safety. I am aware my limitations, and I have a family of my own to protect, but if I can step in and help a friend escape an abusive situation-I will.

Helping hand.

The evidence that intimate partner abuse is prevalent is in the numbers. The National Domestic Violence Hotline states in their awareness material that one in four women and one in seven men experience severe physical abuse during their lifetime, yet it is important to remember there are other common forms of abuse: sexual, financial, emotional, and verbal. According to Respond Inc, it can take a victim an average of seven attempts before finally separating from their abusive partner. Considering this is statistically the most dangerous time in an abusive relationship, it's no wonder leaving for good is not always such a cut and dry situation.

Two years ago today I started this blog as a form of healing, inspiration, and finding my voice in a safe space. Writing is my passion, and supporting other survivors is my calling. This blog exists to shine light on an experience that no one should ever be able to share, an experience no one deserves. Abuse of anyone-adult or child-is unacceptable behavior. If you are unhappy with your partner, leave. If you find yourself at your wit's end with your child, tag in another trusted adult. If you see someone mistreating an elder, speak up! The issue of domestic violence in our country will only thrive in silence-looking at the statistics, it is evident this has already occurred.

Abuse is not acceptable behavior.

I look forward to the day when these numbers completely disappear and I no longer see stickers and tear-away posters in restrooms and hospitals offering victims a way of escape from their "normal" lives. I anticipate the day everyone believes survivors. I know we won't get there unless we collectively decide as a society to create an abuse-free world.

Will you decide that abuse has no place in our world? If you find yourself unsure of how to do this, click here to see how to support survivors and what you can do to make a change in the life of an abuse victim. Or maybe you aren't aware of a loved one being abused, but you want to help advocate from a political standpoint-click here to speak up for victims and survivors and put their safety at the forefront of policies and laws so we can reach that abuse-free world I mentioned, the kind of world all of our children and neighbors and loved ones deserve.

Happy 2 years. And here's to many more.