There's a major problem when you expect your partner to fulfil every role in your life, instead of stepping into that role yourself. I've learnt for myself that no one soul can ever be everything to us.
A report commissioned by the Glenn Inquiry in 2014, estimated the economic cost of child abuse and intimate partner violence in New Zealand between $4.1 to $7 billion per year and rising, estimating the cumulative cost over the next ten years would approach $80 billion.
All I ever wanted was for Mum to be safe from Dad. If she was safe, so were we. Our story went on too long because Mum didn’t know she could leave. She tried so hard for years to save my Dad from his pain. All that happened was his pain became her pain, and that became our pain.
Trust should be built in increments. People should not be dismissed before they are given an opportunity to show who they are. But nor should anyone be trusted in all things immediately.
SHAME magnifies in secrecy.
It ruled my life until I was met with
understanding and empathy.
Choose wisely who you share your
SHAME with, they have
the power to heal or hurt.
Vulnerability can often be mistaken for weakness, but I assure you there is nothing weak about a man who has the courage to own his own baggage, and begin to address a way of living that currently is not only hurting those around him but is destroying him from the inside out too.
Find the courage to heal your wounds before you do what has been done many times before: continue to transmit your hurt and your trauma to your children or partner.