Stay grounded on the holidays

First off "being grounded" means you have a strong connection with who you are, which brings you physical and emotional balance.

Why I say this and stress this issue so much during the holidays in particular is due to my personal experience where my abuser used these days to really get to me and convince me to stay, or let him back into our lives.

He would sweet talk me by inviting us all to Christmas events and mention the phrase "like a family" He would always ask me when the kids were around and say "sorry". So it would make it harder for me to say "No" because at that point the kids were excited to do these activities with all of us together. Knowing that we had just had a fight previous days before, but the kids would mention that he was sorry. They're kids, they don't know any better.

For so many years I would budge into this method because I love to see the kids happy, and I didn't want to look like the "bad guy" by turning their dad down. Now being isolated out of state with it just being us made it so much easier for my abuser to get away with what he wanted. He knew the kids would ask about him on where he spending his time, knowing that we had no family to go to out there. What would happen once the holidays were over? Back to square one...

Please don't make the same mistake I made for so many years. You're doing the right thing by getting away and staying away. Stay grounded my friends.