I didn't know how to approach things back then. I made choices I regret, but I couldn't have known any better without experiencing them myself. I came to understand certain truths through my pain, and becoming aware of them has ultimately brought me a sense of peace. I never stop growing; I'm always learning. A butterfly may still scrape and damage its wings from time to time, but a butterfly is beautiful.

Received a job offer today after being a SAHM for the last 6 years + leaving an abusive 16 year relationship. Starting over is so hard but sometimes necessary.

By Poet.Circle

After being invited by someone in their house, I was left unattended and was made feel as if I were non existent. I didn't even go there voluntarily, I was requested to be there not once but twice and then I received this behaviour. I felt humiliated and insulted. I already suffer from clinical depression and anxiety.

My partner and I had a fight and she went no contact. I’m alone in my house and I’m struggling so much. I’ve tried to see friends and cuddle my pets, but I’ve never struggled so hard it cried so long in my life. Please help me love myself in my despair Reddit

My parents are good people, but I never truly had a relationship with them until I was 19, and I'm only 21 now, and for a long time left unsupervised on the internet and met bad people, leading to me being groomed, only leaving my groomer at 18.

Other than the obvious grooming part I won't go into detail, they were an asshole, and I started acting the same way because I thought it was normal, I met them really young + Not sure if it can be listed as a reason but as someone on the Autism spectrum I struggle with knowing how to act, and even today I basically copy and paste behaviors I learn/see from others, and trying to figure out how to act as a person by seeing traits I think are good.

I treated people badly in my teenage years, to both friends and family. I think that behavior was most prevalent up until I was 19, where it began to tone down and despite it just two years ago, I feel like I've matured a lot especially thanks to friends who hold me accountable and I'm close to my family now who Ive learned are good people and not the bad people my groomer convinced me they were, and they often share life lessons with me.

Yet despite me knowing I'm a different person, that I just replicated what I thought was normal, I still feel bad, because it was only 2 years ago I started to change, it's quite recent. I want to forgive myself or at least not feel that bad about it. What do I do?

Worth isn’t something you have to prove to someone who cannot, or will not, see it.

I just want to post it here to let it off my chest. I will have a good cry about this soon, but I also want witnesses to how I feel right now.

In my self love journey, my genuine self love has recently been labelled as selfish and narcissistic by my own partner.

I have done so much for them, they know it, we have talked about it. For years I have been adjusting for them because I was used to setting myself aside for other people.

Now that I have learned my boundaries and the kind of love I would want to receive, the dynamic has changed. And tonight I have been labelled as narcissist, and selfish. It hurts to hear those words because I know I am not that. I have asked my therapists and my cousin who is also a therapist and I have consistenly been told I am not.

I will be okay. It is just too much of a pain to hold it all at once right now. I am thankful for this space. If you read until the end, thank you for being my witness.

I’m gonna make this as short as possible. As much as I will like to upload pics I do not want anyone to recognize me on this app. I would like to keep myself private. However, I am 27 black female. For a long part of my life I never felt pretty. I was bullied in elementary and middle school for being dark skinned. Guys made fun of me, girls made fun of me and just about everyone. It wasn’t until I moved to GA where random strangers walked up to me and told me I was pretty. I couldn’t believe it. Then it was more strangers from different places that told me I was pretty and previous partners. However; now I don’t think I am. Iva gained weight for having pcos. Although, I lost some weight I have a long way to go. I am currently not dating or looking as I still suffer from a bit of low confidence. I do look at pics and videos and admire me and also accepting the current body that I’m in. But it’s so hard. I’ve sent regular pics to ppl and never got a response or something. I know my aesthetic isn’t for everyone. I understand that my body type is not ideal, but man it really does suck just being slightly overweight of what others considers overweight plus having ethnic features. I didn’t make this post to look for sympathy or anything. I wanted to vent and see if anyone else goes through this. Currently, working on going back to therapy.

I wanted to put together a simple, completely free web app for people who are working through being stuck, looking for practical resources, or trying to build better daily habits.

​There are no paywalls, subscriptions, or hidden upsells.

​What’s inside:

​Resource Finder: Look up specific hurdles (like feeling stuck, stressed, or unmotivated) to get practical steps and tools.

​Today’s Small Step: Simple, actionable daily focus points.

​Private Journal: A safe space to track your own thoughts and progress.

​Community Feed: A moderated space to share wins, struggles, and encouragement with others.

​I built this purely as a tool to help people out. If you want to check it out, use it, or give feedback on what could make it better, here is the link:

https://refreshing-beacon-growth-hub.base44.app

I know parents disappoint but its different after forgiving them, you know. Especially now since they know what I have been dealing with they might use that as amo. How do I embrace it all? Soon enough when I make a silly mistake they are going to point it out and say that im judging them for their mistakes but I make mistakes too. Doesn't make sense. Idk how you can expose me to abuse then get angry when I forget to buy something and say that those mistakes are the same

The way you speak to yourself after a mistake matters. If your first response is to insult yourself, punish yourself, hate yourself, or treat the mistake like proof that something is wrong with you, you are not helping yourself grow. You are damaging the relationship you have with yourself.

Accountability does not require cruelty. You can say, “I got that wrong. I need to understand why. I need to do better next time,” without turning yourself into someone unsafe to be with. If every mistake becomes an attack, you do not build self-trust. You teach yourself that you are only worthy of kindness when you perform perfectly.

Saying no is still something I’m learning how to do without feeling guilty.

For a long time, I thought being a good person meant always making room, always understanding, always bending a little more.

But sometimes I bend so much that I forget I’m a person too.

I’m learning that no is not always rejection.

Sometimes no is me being honest. Sometimes no is me protecting my peace. Sometimes no is me finally listening to what I need.

My affirmation today:

* I can say no and still care.
* I can have limits without explaining myself to death.
* I am allowed to protect my peace too.

Basically my first girlfriend was very abusive towards me, but she wasn’t/isn’t abusive towards her ex and her current partner. She also appreciates things about him that I also had, that she didn’t appreciate about me

Basically it’s hard for me to put this behaviour on her and who she is, because her abuse was specific to me, and makes me think I brought it out of her. She’s not just an abusive person, and I can’t just tell myself that and that she would’ve done that to anyone. She was just abusive to me, so it makes me just hate myself. And because it was my first romantic experience, I don’t know if maybe I was the problem 😢

Like if I was just someone else she never would’ve treated me terribly. That it was me that was the reason of the treatment, not her. If I was her new guy she never would’ve done that maybe? I don’t know. But I met her in a very dark time in my life and she made it a thousand times worse

All the advice I see about abusive people doesn’t work for me, because all those stories are about people who abuse everyone, so that’s just something in general broken inside them, and that fact helps victims. But I don’t have that. All I have is self hate after it all, because the first girl to ever like me abused me, which at first just made me think I just got unlucky with a person who is abusive, and that it’s not personal, but then she showed me that she’s not even abusive to other people. She easily and voluntarily treats her bf the way I begged to be treated and she never could for me. So it was just me? I was so unlikeable she couldn’t help but be terrible to me? The abuse was because I deserved it? And now I don’t even know if it had anything to do with her, maybe every woman would treat me like that? It looked like she was mad at the fact that she was stuck forced to try to like me. Just the fact that I’ve never had an experience outside of her to compare makes me not know and scared to ever open up again

I don’t know if I can explain this right, it’s just such a complicated situation 😢. Has anyone ever experienced someone who was only ever abusive to you and no one else?

It’s so hard to try to start loving myself when I was just beginning my journey on that before I met her, and then I met her and no matter how good I was to her I was treated like trash, and then shown it was exclusive to me, so it makes me feel less of myself more than anything ever has 💔