• SURVIVAL & HEALING

    Surviving and The Trail of Ants

    After my courageous self walked away from a 17 year marriage and survived,  (read about it here)  I had to start creating a new life. I was surviving!   I changed my name back to my maiden name. That is who I was when I was happy. I needed to be that person again. I spent months recovering from my broken marriage. My children hated me because I refused to bad-mouth their father. They blamed me for the divorce. We Survived But we survived. My heart allowed itself to grieve. I threw myself into my job and my schooling and my children. And I survived.  My ex was very angry. I…

  • SURVIVAL & HEALING

    Abuse and Survival – Open Closets

    I have been putting off writing my post about survival. It’s hard digging up past memories. But one of the goals of this blog is to share my experiences and maybe help someone else get one step closer to their own survival. It’s hard to say the word – Abuse. Abuse is abuse!  A person doesn’t have to be hit, beaten, shoved or slapped in order to define their relationship as abuse. I was never hit, never beaten. But I do remember once being shoved across the bed during a very heated argument.  I rationalized that away. Many Forms There is another form of abuse that is just as debilitating.…

  • SURVIVAL & HEALING

    Surviving Abuse – My Lifeline

    To continue the recent post about karate being my lifeline,  I need to go back in time slightly.  I was on the verge of just beginning the process of surviving abuse.  Here’s how my lifeline found me. Sisterhood My Mom was part of a group of women who were spiritual. They not only meditated and searched for the meaning of life, but they were there for each other.  It was a sisterhood.  During some of my darkest moments, this group of women  gathered around me and helped pull me back to reality. I can only describe them as being similar to,  but more spiritual than the women in the movie,…