Courtney Loyd

Intimate abuse is hard to explain. You feel like you’re all over the place. You find it hard to explain the abuse, but even harder to explain why you stay. You find yourself in a cycle of feeling hopeless, then feeling empowered, then back to feeling hopeless and discouraged. You don’t feel like you have support. Sometimes you withdraw and isolate yourself. Sometimes you drink or use other drugs. Sometimes you blame yourself. These actions seem to work but then you realize that nothing changes if nothing changes and the cycle continues. You appear to be well put together, but only close friends, if any, know you are struggling. You want to feel seen and be heard. You want to stop feeling judged. You want to stop comparing yourself to other women. Part of you wants to be in a healthy relationship, but you are also afraid to start over. I understand. I know what’s effective and I know what keeps you stuck. It’s not easy to start over when you’ve gotten comfortable with discomfo