What Makes Us Think Abuse Is Okay?

Why it’s really not.

I never really had any role models in the relationship department growing up.

My parents never seemed to connect with each other. They didn’t seem to have a strong bond.

My parents got divorced when I was 15. They told me on my birthday. I was devastated, but not surprised.

They never argued or anything. They barely talked.

The other closest person to me growing up was my brother. He was a bully. Better yet, he was abusive.

We both fought, but now I know it wasn’t normal sibling rivalry.

He pushed me down a steep hill in the snow, he shot me in the back with a BB gun, he knocked my tooth out with a toy car, he pushed me through a rose bush, and he caused me to stab myself with a screwdriver in the leg.

He would always talk about how dumb and stupid I was because I made good grades and was the teacher's pet.

If he asked me to do something and I told him “no” he would hit me.

I thought this stuff was normal growing up and all brothers and sisters are like this.

Now I know better and I try to raise my kids to love and respect each other. It doesn’t always work, but they aren’t as mean to each other like me and my brother were.

My sister used to be my biggest trigger. She got pregnant when she was 14. She dropped out of high school and had four kids before she turned 21. She now lives off of disability.

My mom used to always tell me that I was going to be a whore just like my sister, and I’d never been good at anything but laying on my back like her.

My sister bounced from husband to husband, so she moved out of the house when I was 10.

I was 14 when I met my first boyfriend. This was my first real relationship. He had a way with words. He could manipulate me to the point where I didn’t even know my name, it was bad.

Looking back, I think this was my worst relationship. I was so young. He sexually…

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