2 years ago, I met a girl who I opened my heart to. Little I knew about how things would evolve. You open your heart to someone and sometimes ignore the warning signs, you believe, and you're in love.

Being a man didn't really help. You don't see things happening, you don't believe they're happening and it seeps slowly. It started with random explosions about small things, like a coffee table not being aligned with the TV, or me not being able to wash the dishes "good enough". You slowly believe, and you think about how to improve things. It wasn't too long beore I realized I was isolating myself from my friends, and lost a lot of the confidence I used to have, but still, it's hard to realize what is really going on. It continued to mood swings and signs of contstant anxiety, and you try to understand, you invest yourself in maybe even helping, but the exuces were always there, there was always a logical reason. It was her job, and the place we lived, and ofcourse, me, and before you realize, you're being controled, or better, your good intentions, your heart, is being controlled.

We moved, and she's changed jobs, everything according to exactly how she wanted it, yet the moods, the explosions, never stopped, and in fact, went even worse. And there was nobody to talk to, nobody to tell. I was away from my hometown, no friends around, except hers. I was blamed for everything, and in fact, at one point, I remember her even saying I was always wrong, and she, she was always right.

Last February, it escalated to her attacking me physically as well.

2 years later, from a confiden guy with a lot of friends and a job I was happy at, I almost forgot my own identity. I have no friends around, and have isolated myself from friends at home, being so ashamed for my own behaviour and what has happened.

I have no financial support, no emotional support, besides the realization now, that, well, I am being emotionally abused, and I need to get away.

Being a man, like I said, does not help. People don't believe, they don't see it.

I haven't stopped believing that there are some people who care and understand what it's like. That it's doesn't matter if it's a man, a woman, a pet. Abuse, is abuse, and emotional abuse is not better or worse than physical abuse, or any other kind of abuse. If any, the emotional scars stay there for a long time.

Please help me save some money up so I can get away.

Thanks, Ron