My story begins at the age of 23 years old, desiring to be on my own and wanting to do my own thing without anyone tell me what to do. I got involved with someone who was way younger than me, and eventually became pregnant. Due to us expecting a baby we was told that we needed to get married In which we did. The abuse started three months into the marriage to include, slapping, hitting, being controlled and isolated from family, told what to eat, wear and not even allowed to have a key to my own house or car, not even allowed to own a bank account. This abuse lasted approximately 10 years until finally I decided rather than die mentally, emotionally, spiritually and let my children see me live like this, I made a chose to leave this relationship and never look back. I left with nothing but the clothes on my back and started life over, never looking back again. What I say to those in this type of relationship is, love yourself, forgive yourself and others, not for them, but for you. Release them and moved forward with life, know that you are worth more than what others portray to you in your mind, cling to family and true friends and never settled for nothing less than the best that life has for you.