I grew up seeing this exact same situation play out every day. My mother did this, took my fathers abuse every single day because she thought everything was her fault. He had her trained so well that she could never win. She’d cry all the time, they fight and yell and it was back to the same damn thing. She got called stupid for not reading his mind, she got told she was “shrieking” when she tried to stand up for herself. I used to hate both of them, and always felt bad for blaming her for never leaving. How was she so blind? How could she let this happen to her? Why did she put us all through this nightmare because she was too weak to leave him?

You know when it finally stopped? He died. Ten years later, she’s still such a nervous wreck that she will never try to or allow another romantic relationship for the rest of her life.

Don’t become this.