Surviving an Abusive Relationship

By Brenda L. Brightful

This book is about my life and how I struggled to get out of an abusive relationship. It provides insights on how I became so caught up in the midst of the relationship trying to please and satisfy the man and neglected myself in the process. This book will provide you with ideas and ways that you can increase your self- esteem, recognize the signs of the abuse and how to prepare moving on with your life once you have decided to get out of the abusive relationship. It provides you with insight on how addiction can manifest in other ways not just drinking and smoking, however being addicted to certain lifestyles, unhealthy relationships, places and things. This book also shows how you can move on with your life and accomplish whatever goals and dreams that you have desired to accomplish. The goal is to encourage and remind you that it is never too late to get out and no matter what, at the end of the day, YOU DESERVE HAPPINESS.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462862719

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Brenda L. Brightful.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011906471

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4628-6270-2

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4628-6269-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4628-6271-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

95810

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Beginning

The Relationship

The Abuse

Being Committed

The Break-Up

The Anger and Resentments

The Partying

The Void

The Relationship With Self

Moving On

The Relationship

Having Closure

Why I Stayed

How I Began Moving On

My Relationships Now

Where Am I Now

Words of Encouragement

Autobiography

Acknowledgments

I would first like to give honor to God who has provided me with this great opportunity to write this book. Without him, writing this book would not have been possible. It is because of him that I was able to surrender and find peace within in order for me to move on. Secondly, I would like to thank my dear husband Charles for encouraging and motivating me while staying up with me and proof reading what I wrote while still being able to get up for work the next morning. I also would like to thank my daughter Mone’ who has continued to support me with writing this book as well as my Godson Marcello who kept me from writing so I could play with him. Finally, my mother who raised me as a single parent and groomed me into the woman whom I have become today, Thank You!

Introduction

I was born in Forrest City, Arkansas raised by my mother who had four children, two boys and a set of twin girls. I was born as a twin three minutes apart from my sister with my sister being the eldest. My brother, the oldest of the four is 6ft 8 and played basketball. My youngest brother lived his life. My siblings and I were not as close as we could have been, but somehow drifted apart doing our own thing as time went on. Born on November 26, 1970, I developed complications during my birth. The doctors did not think that I was going to survive. I weighed 3 1/2lbs, continued to run a high fever and had loose stool that was unexplainable. The doctors did not know what was wrong with me as to why I was not gaining weight and continued running a high fever. The doctors transported me to Little Rock hospital searching for the problem. I was admitted into the hospital due to the complications that I had and stayed in the hospital in Little Rock for nearly two months until the doctors saw progress that I had gained weight and my fever decreased. At the age of three, my mother moved my siblings and me to Rochester, NY where I was raised and began living my life.

The Beginning

As a young girl growing up in poverty, raised by my single mother, not knowing who my father was, living in the projects, and experiencing my peers having more than I did, did not understand that there were more to life out there than just living day to day trying to make it. My mother, who had worked