Coping with an unwanted pregnancy as a teenager was hard. My religious parents were ashamed, my boss fired me, the baby daddy didn't want to be involved, and worst of all, my body let me down.
It was friends, actually strangers who became friends, who helped me through.
But coping with an emotionally abusive marriage was much harder.
In the end, I couldn't cope anymore - my body was literally breaking down under the stress - and I made the decision that as much as I loved my lifestyle, my animals, my plants and everything I had worked so hard to establish, I had no other option - I left.
And discovered hell hath no fury like a narcissist scorned.
As he turned friends into flying monkeys, emptied bank accounts, lied to judges, ate and sold my animals, hunted me from refuge to refuge and in the words of Arlo Guthrie, did all sorts of mean, nasty, ugly and horrible things, I was trying to survive with no income and nowhere to live during a pandemic - exiled from the self-sufficient sanctuary I had created for (like I'll never need it right?) just such an eventuality, powerless as he chopped down my trees, destroyed my ecosystems and deliberately vandalised everything that had been my pride and passion.
The very system seemed against me. Middle-class emotional abuse isn't even on the radar (I aim to change that). No matter where I turned, there was no support, no help. Lawyers took my money and achieved nothing, the court believed his lies.
Once again, it was friends, and strangers who became friends, who helped me through.
(And if you are asking - was it worth it? Absolutely, totally, unhesitatingly yes)
It has humbled and strengthened me, and now I can pay it forward.
Whatever is going on in your life, remember: "This too shall pass",
And if you need it, I can now share my space (and if you want, the dirt and the knowledge of how to connect with that dirt and make it flourish into food) as a refuge while you deal with whatever is going on in your life.
If it is space and time you need, send me an email.
It was friends, actually strangers who became friends, who helped me through.
But coping with an emotionally abusive marriage was much harder.
In the end, I couldn't cope anymore - my body was literally breaking down under the stress - and I made the decision that as much as I loved my lifestyle, my animals, my plants and everything I had worked so hard to establish, I had no other option - I left.
And discovered hell hath no fury like a narcissist scorned.
As he turned friends into flying monkeys, emptied bank accounts, lied to judges, ate and sold my animals, hunted me from refuge to refuge and in the words of Arlo Guthrie, did all sorts of mean, nasty, ugly and horrible things, I was trying to survive with no income and nowhere to live during a pandemic - exiled from the self-sufficient sanctuary I had created for (like I'll never need it right?) just such an eventuality, powerless as he chopped down my trees, destroyed my ecosystems and deliberately vandalised everything that had been my pride and passion.
The very system seemed against me. Middle-class emotional abuse isn't even on the radar (I aim to change that). No matter where I turned, there was no support, no help. Lawyers took my money and achieved nothing, the court believed his lies.
Once again, it was friends, and strangers who became friends, who helped me through.
(And if you are asking - was it worth it? Absolutely, totally, unhesitatingly yes)
It has humbled and strengthened me, and now I can pay it forward.
Whatever is going on in your life, remember: "This too shall pass",
And if you need it, I can now share my space (and if you want, the dirt and the knowledge of how to connect with that dirt and make it flourish into food) as a refuge while you deal with whatever is going on in your life.
If it is space and time you need, send me an email.
