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Encouragement

Abuse and Self Care, Encouragement, Health

Emotional Abuse: Recognize the Early Signs

Last week, I touched on emotional abuse and pointed you to an article for more information. As I mentioned, verbal and emotional abuse are often erroneously categorized as “not real abuse.” Friends, it’s real.  The words are real. The pain from being the target of lies, manipulation, and verbal battering is real. 

It’s usually quite subtle at first. It might be a backhanded comment. You know the kind: “Those jeans don’t make you look too fat” or “at least dinner isn’t burnt this time.” Thanks? You’re left a little confused: was that a compliment or an insult? There’s usually a dig in every comment, a veiled threat or insult. The self doubt starts to set in… Continue Reading

June 29, 2015
Encouragement, Life Is Beautiful

Friday Favorites!

It’s a mix of a week with tough topics and a more lighthearted giveaway. If you haven’t entered yet, please do! You have all weekend to enter daily and share with your friends. From time to time I like to share a few fun things about me or products that I particularly enjoy. By doing so, it gives you a little insight into who I am beyond my story of struggle and abuse survival. Here’s what I’m liking lately:

Charming Charlie: I may have mentioned my infatuation with Charlie before. If not, Charlie is a beautiful store, a Toys R Us for women, perhaps. It’s full of accessories. Lots and lots of accessories. Watches, earrings, rings, bracelets, shoes, hats, purses, hair jewelry, cell phone cases, scarves, even Continue Reading

June 25, 2015
Abuse and Self Care, Encouragement, Health

Are You Being Emotionally Abused?

If someone you love–including yourself–is being emotionally abused, you’ll find it mirrored here:

Abuse comes in several forms: emotional, physical, sexual, verbal. Often emotional and verbal abuse get erroneously played down. People sometimes falsely assume that it can’t be “that bad” and isn’t dangerous, but that couldn’t be more wrong. Emotional abuse is dangerous and it’s just as damaging as physical abuse. When I was in an emotionally abusive marriage, the words hurt more than any punch I could have suffered. In fact,

I remember saying at one point “I’d rather you’d just hit me. It’d hurt less.” #domesticviolence #nomore #emotionalabuse

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 I remember saying at one point “I’d rather you’d just hit me. It’d hurt less.” Continue Reading

June 21, 2015
Encouragement, Life Is Beautiful

Five Lessons I Learned from My Dad

It’s Father’s Day this weekend and we all pause to reflect on our fathers, what strength of relationship we had, the lessons we learned, what we can do to honor our dads, whether or not they’re here to celebrate. My dad passed away nearly 11 years ago and I miss him every day. I often reminisce about funny things he did or said or things that made a profound impression on me, formed my character. In honor of my sweet dad on this Father’s Day weekend, I’d love to share with you some powerful things I learned from a genuinely dear, funny, devoted, strong man.

Commitment: Dad knew about commitment. He was a good son and brother before becoming a husband and father. He was faithful to my Mom for over 40 years, until she passed away four months after their 40th wedding anniversary. He had always been a good provider, sometimes working two jobs in the early years of their marriage. He wanted my mom to be able to stay at home with their children and he was willing to work extra to Continue Reading

June 19, 2015