My designer took a much-needed summer vacation, but it looks like the ebook will be ready around Labor Day. I’ll be sure and let you know, believe me! By that point, it will have been nearly a year since I started this project.
A lot has happened since then, mostly due to the excellent therapy program I have been in since Feb. of this year. I have almost completed the program, which was initially set at 18 weeks but my therapist and I agreed to extend it. She and I hope to conclude our sessions together by early October.
To say that this therapeutic process has been life altering would be putting it mildly. It has also, without a doubt, the most challenging personal endeavor of my life. That includes dealing with the deaths of my parents and my mother-in-law. The grief I have experienced over the past few months has eclipsed everything else, at times.
I also have struggled to keep my balance at work and eventually took a one-month leave. Although I’m back at work, I’m still having a difficult time being around other people constantly, every day, and having to put on that “work face” (you know the one I mean!).
Some days I feel like giving up. Other days I feel mildly hopeful. Most of the time, I keep asking myself these questions: “Who am I? What should I do now?”
Being in that state of uncertainty is, honestly, terrible. And I also have to fight against being angry all the time at my ex-husband for hurting me in such a deep and permanent way.
I suppose if I could do anything now, it would be to try and help people understand that domestic violence doesn’t end when she (usually a she) walks out the door. The damage is permanent. And she will need help and understanding every day, for the rest of her life.
The regular rules do not apply to her. She can’t “just let go,” or “pull herself up by her bootstraps,” or “just make different choices.” Those are options that people who have experienced this type of trauma NEVER have. And never WILL have.
That’s a tough concept to grasp as a trauma victim/survivor, and even tougher for people who haven’t been in this situation. But believe me, I’ve berated myself for years, wondering why all those self-help books and advice guides never seemed to work for me.
Now I know that they weren’t meant for me, and people like me.
So if I could do anything, it would be trying to explain that while survivors of domestic violence aren’t “damaged goods,” we are somewhat disabled. Our thinking processes, even with therapeutic help, are different from a non-traumatized person’s. We can learn coping skills, but the disability is permanent.
We wouldn’t tell a person with one leg to just go ahead and walk. And when he can’t, we wouldn’t say, “What’s the matter with you? Just do it! And what’s taking you so long? Hurry up!”
That’s part of the message — only a small part, by the way — that society sends to victims of domestic violence.
All this to say, we have a long way to go before we, as a culture, can truly support people like me in the best way possible. I’m fortunate to have found a good therapy provider while, God willing, I still have a few years left to live.
Maybe those years can be better.
