My Verbal Abuse Healing Journey Is a Struggle Sometimes

A verbal abuse healing journey can be a struggle for many individuals. Moving away from an abusive relationship takes time and effort. Often, a person who has suffered verbal abuse may react negatively to situations even when knowing the proper tools and strategies to use. A person's healing journey will not be a straight and narrow path. Instead, there will be times of ups and downs with unexpected curves. The struggle of a healing journey away from verbal abuse is worth it, though.

Using Helpful Strategies Against Verbal Abuse Is a Struggle in My Healing Journey

I sought out professional therapy to help with my healing journey after being in a verbally abusive relationship. I was given many different strategies that could help me if I had to face verbal abuse again. My therapists provided me with tools to combat the negative emotions I felt from being the target of abuse. Even with these resources, I still struggle with my verbal abuse healing journey. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to put my helpful tools into motion when facing a verbally abusive situation. I was attending a local farmer's market with one of my children when I noticed a man walking through the different vendor tents with his dog. This dog was not a common breed, and we didn't often see them where we lived, so my child asked if I knew what breed it was.

I am an avid dog lover and knew the breed's name only by reading about it online. It was a Weimaraner, and I mispronounced the name while telling my child about it. As I was talking, the dog's owner turned to face us, started laughing at me, and loudly commented about how he'd never heard anyone describe his dog's breed like that and how I got it so wrong. 

His words embarrassed me, especially since we were all out in public and I had a child with me. I don't know if the man was often verbally abusive to random people, but at that time, I felt abused and mistreated. Instead of addressing him and his actions or using the many tools I've gotten through my healing journey, I ignored him and redirected my child to a different area of the farmer's market. I struggled at that with my verbal abuse healing journey.

Handling Verbal Abuse on My Healing Journey Even Though I Struggle

Naturally, after it happened, I replayed this situation multiple times in my head, thinking of how I should have handled it and what I could have said or done at the time. (I once heard an anonymous quote that said, "Never make fun of someone who mispronounces a word. It means they learned it by reading.")

I also live in a region with many different cultures and languages. I know people who use English as their second language, so learning pronunciation can be tricky for them. I think back now on that situation and how that man didn't recognize that I was learning about the dog breed and had no previous experience. Instead, he laughed and made fun of how I described his dog. I should have referred back to that anonymous quote and told him I learned it from reading. 

The next time a similar situation happens to me, I may be able to handle it differently. However, my healing journey is full of ups and downs, and I can't beat myself up if I end up choosing to ignore and walk away from a verbally abusive situation. My verbal abuse healing journey is a unique struggle, and I will continue to refer to the tools and strategies my therapists give me as I navigate away from verbal abuse in my life.