My first Magazine ICHOOSEFREEDOM | Page 5

The people who had been feeling sorry for you all the while you endured the abuse, are the same people that might either stand as a witness or disappear when you need them the most. Eventually, it began to dawn on me that “this is OT how marriage should ber. I asked myself “would you rather have your freedom or go to prisonr? I chose FREEDOM I kept my hopes of surviving without him up. I kept promising myself that I will make it without him. I told myself that I will survive and that there are stll good men out there. Yes there are Most of us that escaped from DV have the tendency shut men out and see all men as the same. o One bad egg should not afect the others. Who says you can't be loved again? Who says you can't walk with your shoulders held high? You're beautful and you alone can make yourself shine again All you need to do is to focus on yourself, your craf and work smart. Our young couples are killing themselves these days because of domestc violence. The day I walked out of my marriage, I lef everything that made me “Mrsr. I lef with a few clothes. I lef all the material things because in the race of life, you don't need baggage Baggage weighs you down, especially when it reminds you of bad experiences; It drags you backwards. o one will want to accommodate you with all that baggage. I wasn't looking at running back to my father's house as that wasn’t an opton for me. I was determined to forget my old life and fnd my true self again. I took the bull by the horn I knew it wasn't going to be easy. But I did it. I walked away I chose my FREEDOM o one believed I would never look back because I had always gone back afer a few days (sometmes weeks), but this tme around, I ran for my life. I give myself positve afrmatons every morning: