My childhood friend is in an abusive marriage right now, and trying to get out of it. The crazy thing is, she only married him because she was pregnant. She thought she was doing the best thing for herself and the baby, but she was very wrong. He invites his drug dealer friends over all the time, runs with gangs, has cheated on her, and neglects the baby. Plus my friend now thinks she's a fat pig. Her husband convinced her.
Her family has offered to even pay for the divorce, but she just keeps getting sucked back in. In these situations as a bystander you need to ensure that your sister or friend doesn't make you her what I like to call 'just enough'. Talking to you about it makes it just bearable enough to stay. She can go one more week knowing that you will put up with her making a poor choice. Inform her that you will be there for her when the walls come falling down, but until then you can't talk about it. And make sure to stick to it. If she is talking about the last little fight stop her and say "I love you, but I can't talk about this until I know it wont happen anymore." Tuff Love Never Hurt Anyone

As women we need to stand up for ourselves, and acknowledge the power that we carry with us. We are all such beautiful women, on the inside and out, and yet we let a man tell us that we are not good enough, or skinny enough, or pretty enough. The truth is, men like this feed off the women who do not acknowledge their power. If the door mats of the world didn't exist neither would these men. Its an eco-system. Only the strong survive. So to any lady out there in a bad place please get out of it. It doesn't matter how much he tells you he loves you, or if he promises you everything right down to the moon, get a back bone, stand up, and walk away.

Learn more about this author, Tera Clausen.
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