Was I Abused?

If you were to have asked me this a year ago, I would have told you “no.”

My mothers telling me that I was a worthless piece of **** that couldn’t do anything right wasn’t abuse. That was perfectly normal. As well as them threatening to call the police on me. That was normal, too.

Them forcing me to stay outside for hours on end was just punishment, not abuse. As was going without food for a day or so. It wasn’t abuse when they forced me to the ground or against the wall, they were just trying to get me to stop fighting.

I could go on.

I never thought that it was abuse. It was what was normal for me. I thought it was right. Turns out, I was dead wrong.

I found out later that I had been through some pretty bad mental and physical abuse. Well… How was I supposed to know?

Now if someone asks, “Have you ever been abused?,” you can bet I say “yes.” I can even say that I have been traumatized therapists with it. So yes, I was abused.