Half of my life was spent with someone who used and abused me.
That’s a truth I no longer feel ashamed to say out loud. Because in that time, I wasn’t weak — I was surviving. I was doing everything I could just to stay afloat in a sea of manipulation, control, and cruelty. Every disagreement felt like a ticking time bomb. Every day was a battle to keep myself mentally, emotionally, spiritually alive.
I’ve spent years practising therapy, Reiki, holistic healing — not just as a profession, but as a lifeline. A way to stop myself from drowning. A way to hold onto some small flicker of peace. I did all that just to function, to keep breathing, to keep going. Not because I wanted to — but because I had to.
I’m sick of protecting myself 24/7.
Sick of the cruelty and the calm gaslighting that followed it.
Sick of being told No every time I asked for something I needed.
Sick of always making do, always mending — while others took and took and took.
Sick of carrying it all on my own shoulders, while being told I was “too much.”
Sick of watching money and care pour into everyone else’s needs while I had to scrape together enough love and resources for myself.
Sick of being treated like an afterthought. A convenience. A second-rate citizen in someone else’s kingdom of lies and contradictions.
I was ignored, talked down to, denied, disrespected — and expected to keep smiling through it all.
But I’m not doing that anymore.
Because now — it’s my time.
✨ My time to live without fear.
✨ My time to experience kindness, warmth, and true love — the kind that doesn’t come with conditions.
✨ My time to no longer question whether a disagreement will escalate into punishment or violence.
✨ My time to receive, not just give.
✨ My time to feel safe, held, heard, seen — loved without needing to earn it.
I’m not here to prove anything to anyone anymore. I’ve done the inner work. I’ve done the healing. And now, I’m ready to receive what I deserve — not crumbs, not silence, not manipulation dressed as love. But the real thing. Kindness. Softness. Reciprocity.
If you’re reading this and you’re tired too — tired of surviving, tired of being taken for granted — know this: You are not alone. And your time will come too.
Enough of making do. Enough of being strong all the time. Now, it’s time to be free.
#MyTimeNow #HealingJourney #SurvivorStrong #NoMoreAbuse #TrueLove #EmotionalFreedom #WomensVoices #IChooseMe
— Linda C J Turner
Trauma Therapist | Neuroscience & Emotional Intelligence Practitioner | Advocate for Women’s Empowerment
