Walking away from a toxic relationship is no walk in the park and healing from it is even harder. But it teaches you things about yourself that you may not have known before.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on August 22, 2019. It has since been updated.
No matter how many times people told you to "just walk away" from your toxic relationship, it wasn't so easy. It took some time and finally, you were able to escape your toxic partner's clutches. But it wasn't without your fair share of scars. After all, they broke your confidence and self-esteem, took away your freedom, isolated you from your loved ones, made you doubt yourself constantly - they nearly broke YOU.
However, slowly, you started to heal. It was a journey you had to take - one that kept reopening your wounds and making you want to give up. But you pushed through and as you saw the light at the end of the tunnel, you realized that you had healed from that toxic relationship. And then it was these seven truths about yourself that hit you and reminded you of your worth:
During the course of the relationship, your partner practically reduced you to someone who couldn't live without them or do anything on your own. And for a long time, you would defend them because you still wanted to make it work. They may have thought you were weak, but it was this very fact that you were able to hold on to hope and take all his emotional and verbal hits for so long that shows just how much strength you possess within you.
You aren't some rug to be walked all over. You are an intelligent and strong human being with emotions and feelings that can be hurt too and the latter part is what they took complete advantage of. But having healed from the pain and emotional trauma, you know that you didn't deserve what they did to you. You deserve to be treated right and looked at as an equal.
They isolated you from your close ones so much that it became hard to even talk to them, for fear they would judge you. But during your journey of healing, there was one truth that kept you going which didn't allow you to give up on yourself - that you were loved by your family and friends. They were there for you before you got into the relationship and the ones who truly loved you were there to lift you up after you got out of that toxicity.
With their constant withdrawing of love, you felt like you weren't worthy of being loved. You thought that they would be the only one to accept your faults and put up with it when in reality, you were worth far more. The way you loved that toxic partner, it was only fair that you get the same even though they never gave it. Now, as you learned to love yourself again, you won't let anyone tell you that you weren't deserving of that love.
When you first started dating them, you were a woman with such confidence, people admired your ability to take the bull by its horns. They broke you down into a shell of yourself. Now, healed, you've gained your confidence back and there is no force that can make you feel uncomfortable being yourself again. It's time to look out for yourself.
It was always about finding new ways to bring you down and making you too scared to fight back. However, along with your confidence, your fight to stand up for yourself is also making itself known. You may have taken them at their word and believed every criticism they lobbed at you, but now you're not under anyone's control. You won't take anyone's nonsense.
Self-doubt was not a part of your personality until you met them and they exerted their ability to gaslight you. But after going through so much to heal yourself, you've finally realized that YOU know what's best for you. Your gut instincts are the only ones that will guide you on the right path and you trust it implicitly.
This article is based on facts collated from different sources. The views expressed here are those of the writer.
