Walking away from an abusive relationship is one of the toughest things for every victim. It is a huge step which takes a lot of courage and strength.
Nevertheless, sadly, your troubles usually don’t end the moment you leave your abuser.
The truth is that a toxic relationship like this often leaves scars on the person who was suffering abuse.
That is exactly what happened to this girl—her emotionally abusive relationship changed her in more ways than she could count.
1. She has trust issues
Every woman who has been through any type of abuse, including emotional, can’t avoid having strong trust issues when she finally breaks free from an abusive relationship.
However, something like this is completely normal—the person she loved the most and the person she was ready to trust with her life was the one who made her life a living hell.
So, what exactly can she expect from others?
This was the man who swore he loved her, the man she thought was the one she’d spend the rest of her life with and he ended up betraying her like this.
Naturally, she thinks that everyone else is just like him. She is convinced that every guy she meets has the intention of hurting her and breaking her heart all over again.
Nevertheless, this doesn’t just go for the men she meets—she feels the same way about almost all people in her life.
Everything this girl’s been through made her think that there doesn’t exist a person in this world she can count on.
Besides, the worst part is that she doesn’t believe herself anymore. She made the wrong choice once so that has to mean that her judgment-making skills are non-existent.
This girl no longer believes her own intuition or her gut and she questions every decision she makes, thinking it is the wrong one.
2. Her view of love is distorted
After all that has happened, this girl isn’t sure what true love is anymore. Everything she believed in and all the things she thought represented love turned out to be wrong.
This girl is convinced that she wouldn’t recognize the guy meant for her even if he showed up right in front of her.
She is scared that she’ll continue with these unhealthy relationship patterns forever and that she’ll never manage to reprogram her brain into seeing love the right way again.
3. She became guarded
Similar to every victim of abuse, this girl also became overly careful when it comes to letting new people into her life.
She’s been through hell and she knew that she had to find a way to protect her vulnerable heart from getting crushed all over again.
The only way to do so was to build thick walls around it and to act heartless toward everyone.
The only way to do so was to become guarded and to not let anyone see her vulnerabilities ever again.
And that was exactly what she did—she became a closed person who didn’t open her heart to love.
A girl who sentenced herself to a life of solitude out of fear of being hurt again.
4. She isn’t sure if she’ll find love ever again
Another thing that changed about this girl is the fact that she gave up on love .
Before this toxic man entered her life, she thought of love as a fairy tale and she was strongly convinced that her happily ever after would come sooner or later.
Nevertheless, after all the insults and humiliations she’s been through, deep down she began thinking that she wasn’t meant to be loved.
After so many years of her abuser convincing her that she was the unlovable one, she started believing him.
This girl stopped believing in love and in soulmates. Instead, she became sarcastic about it, convinced that she’d never find anyone who would treat her better than her ex did.
5. But she is stronger than she’s ever been
However, despite all the bad things her emotionally abusive relationship caused, there was also one good thing it brought her—she became stronger than ever.
She saw that there was nothing she couldn’t take and that she would always survive, whatever life put in front of her.
This girl became her own hero. She realized that she could make it on her own and that she is a complete person without a man by her side.
And one thing is for sure—this relationship made her become a girl who doesn’t settle for less.
A girl who knows what she deserves and a girl who loves herself more than anyone in this world.
