It’s depressing to speak to another woman who has been burnt as much as I have. Perhaps, upon reflection, she was treated worse. It’s sad to acknowledge the world that we live in is full of good people who suffer. We discussed the repercussions of our experiences and, although I try to think of the positives – the growth, understanding and wisdom that I have gained – I can never lose sight of the pain that I have endured. I wonder, was it worth it? No, it wasn’t. I was happily stumbling through life none the wiser of such vile villainy. And I was doing quite alright.

I wish this could be a blog post full of positivity, but once again, I find myself angry. Lately I have been realising the amount of psychological damage that I have and the repercussions of said damage.

This is genuinely how I feel:

As much as I intellectually know that I have a lot to offer, my brain wiring has been messed with so much that my automatic response to anything is I’m not good enough. I remember the monster’s words in my head – “you’re destroyed. You are going to impose yourself on someone, that’s your agenda.” As much as I know that everything he said was a bunch of crap, these words haunt and taunt me. I hate that he made me feel so broken that I truly believed – and sometimes still do – that I am that worthless. I list all of my assets, accomplishments and strengths and remind myself of just how much I have to offer – but deep down, I’m still not entirely reprogrammed. And I wish that I could say that it’s something that I’m working on – but in all honesty, I don’t know how to work on it. I don’t know how to silence that monster’s voice in my head. Perhaps I do approach others with a blank slate, but my own slate isn’t blank – it’s full of scribblings of all of the things Voldemort said and did to me. I wish I knew how to completely wipe it clean, but psychological abuse is not something to take lightly.

I’ve come to expect abandonment, in fact, I await it, and in the meantime, push away incredible people who should be approached with a blank slate – whether that’s their slate or mine. And then, I realise what I have just unwittingly done and suffer some more. Because now I believe in my unworthiness even more fervently.

Perhaps, some day, this vicious cycle will end.