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“I don’t want to be a sweetheart. I want to be the fucking love of your life.”

Everyone loves a survivor once she's quiet. Once she's soft, polite, “healed”. But bring up what actually happened, talk about the abuse, the manipulation, the betrayal, suddenly you're too much. Bitter. Angry. Suddenly you're the problem. The truth is - they don't want survivors. They want silence with a pretty filter. They want your pain digestible. Not loud. Not real. So when I speak I do it loudly. Clearly. Unapologetically. Because I wasn't put back together just to keep everyone else comfortable.

“All relationships have one law: never make the one you love feel alone, especially when you’re there.”

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal.”

“You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.”