It’s a strange kind of exhaustion—working beside women who understand abuse in private relationships, yet act confused when the same dyn
It’s a strange kind of exhaustion—working beside women who understand abuse in private relationships, yet act confused when the same dynamics show up in systems and institutions.
They can name coercive control in a marriage.
They can spot manipulation in a partner.
They can explain grooming, silence, punishment, and power plays in a heartbeat.
But when those very same patterns appear in policies, nonprofits, courts, schools, churches, or healthcare?
Suddenly it’s “complicated,” “deserved“, “race stuff“, or “maybe you’re misreading it.”
In an instant they decide that abuse and violence is not that bad after all. And, victim blaming, minimizing, silencing truth, and that other bs is all the rage. It makes perfect sense now.
But, some of us don’t have the luxury of pretending systems are neutral.
We live at the very center of their target.
We feel every pressure point.
We carry the consequences.
And it hurts when people who know better choose comfort over truth.
But naming it is part of reclaiming our clarity.
Part of protecting our peace.
Part of honoring the wisdom we earned the hard way.
Affirmations
When life shifts, I shift with it—improvising with grace, never losing my center.
I release what dims my shine. I welcome what helps me rise.
- My voice carries. My truth carries. My presence carries.
- Even on quiet days, my soul hums its own liberation song.
- I deserve the kind of peace that lets my shoulders drop and my breath fall soft.