95: I Had to Become Ruthless to Stay Gone: For the Person Who Keeps Leaving and Going Back

Ali shares the brutal reality of trying to leave an abusive relationship and how, after leaving and returning over and over again, she began to lose trust in her own ability to stay gone.

In this episode, we talk about:

Why repeated leaving and returning can create a deep distrust in yourself. How isolation can make you feel that talking to your family “too much” is strange or abnormal. How she began hiding the truth from friends and family in an attempt to reclaim autonomy over her own decisions. The mind game of believing, “If I can just be perfect enough, maybe we can get back to how things were in the beginning.” How abusers capitalize on partial truths and technicalities to shift blame and make you question your own reality. Why focusing on the technical details of an incident can make you completely miss the larger pattern of coercive control. And finally, what changed when Ali became ruthless about staying gone.

Guest details are private for now, but listeners can DM me on @whyshestayedpodcast on Instagram if you would like to request to message Ali. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.