10/09/2026
One of the scariest things about domestic violence is that someone can be in an abusive relationship for years or decades without understanding what I happening to them.
How behaviours you once would have questioned slowly become part of your everyday life. How you learn to anticipate someone else’s behavior, question your own judgment, and make yourself smaller to keep the peace.
How you can experience something repeatedly without fully understanding what it is doing to you.
This Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I want to talk about the things we don’t always recognize as abuse.
And part of recognizing it is learning to identify the behaviours, patterns, and dynamics that you don't have the language for.
Not every experience looks the same. Not every behaviour exists by itself. And not every form of abuse leaves a visible mark.
Sometimes, the most insidious forms of control are the ones that gradually change how you see yourself, what you believe you deserve, and how much freedom you feel you have to simply exist as yourself.
Awareness begins with having the language to recognize in ourselves what we have been taught to minimize.
And sometimes, finding the words is where everything begins. đź’ś
