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Betrayal Trauma

Betrayal trauma is not something I wish on my worst enemy. You’re anxious most of the time. That effortless peace of mind is gone. The resentment almost never goes away. You cannot look at them without thinking of the hurt they caused you.

You lose all the respect you had for them. You question your self worth. But eventually you get over it. Your wounds heal, you don’t feel the constant depression anymore.

But the Love is not the same. The respect isn’t either because you’ve seen what they are capable of. The cracks unfortunately are only ignored and never forgotten…..

But on a random Tuesday it will hit you and you’ll get triggered again, you’ll bring it up the first few months perhaps. Eventually you won’t bring it up anymore, you’ll learn to get through your trigger a little better each time, you’ll learn to compartmentalize it better in your brain……..

Eventually you may even get better at pretending it never happened…..until that random Tuesday comes and you’re glaring at the cracks in your foundation and you realize the trust will never be effortless again…….and so the cycle continues…….

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6 Reminders In 2022!

Is it too late to go through some reminders for the year?? Meh I’ll tell you still…

This is what we’re doing this year:

  1. Be kind. Does this need elaboration? The answer is NO. Just be kind to people. You don’t have to know what they’re going through, hell they don’t have to be going through shit. You just be kind.
  2. Rest. Take a breather. Pretty self-explanatory as well. As a woman, a BLACK woman, we’ve long been deceived that we’re strong. You hear things like “strong black woman”. And for a long time, I thought I had to be. Baby listen, now, I am not strong. In fact, I am weak. I want to be weak. I want to be taken care of. I am delicate. I am an egg, because if you drop me, I break, so be careful with me. What am I even saying, I am a flower, don’t pluck me, just water me. Water me with love, with affection, with MONEY and all the good things in life.
  3. Welcome and embrace your growth. Being in a space of growth can be an uncomfortable place to be. For growth to take place, you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Some people may not understand your journey and that’s ok. Growth does not mean that you won’t fall back into your old ways once in a while, but I hope we are all able to recognize it early enough, so we don’t fall into the same pattern.
  4. Stand your ground. When you believe you’re genuinely doing the right thing and not being an asshole to other people, stand your ground and do whatever it takes to keep your peace because, let me tell you, thou shall be tested. Take whatever precautions, whatever measures you think is right for you and maintain it. Don’t be shaken by people’s opinions of you, don’t be moved when people take a different stance than you, because everybody is entitled to their opinions. Besides opinions are like assholes, we all have one.
  5. Leave. Another self-explanatory point I believe.
  6. Shine. Just like Rihanna shine bright like a diamond. Don’t dim your light for other people. Work on getting rid of that imposter syndrome that you’re having. Accept the great opportunities coming your way. You’re not meant to struggle. Let that little light of yours shine and don’t worry about other people shinning at the same time because the same way the stars all shine together in the sky, is the same way we all can shine at the same time. The world is big enough to accommodate all of us. Just find your purpose and shine.

Now you guys know the drill, chin up and read Isaiah 41:10.

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It’s ok to expect certain things from certain people.

“Nobody owes to anything”- I call BS on that. This useless mentality that you don’t owe nobody anything destroys a lot of good things.

Bare in my mind, this is just my opinion so if you do not agree, well opinions are like assholes, we all have them.

I believe that certain decisions come with baggage that you just must fulfill. Yes, to some extent, we all don’t owe anybody anything but how tragic would life be if we all lived by this mentality.

It is ok to expect certain things from certain people. The keyword here is “certain things from certain people”, please not from everybody because some people constantly disappoint. I call them career disappointers. Plus, there are certain things you just can’t expect from e.g. strangers or people who aren’t really close to you.

If someone decides its time for them to settle down, get married or whatever, your partner is allowed to expect things from you and you my friend should be able to deliver at least the basic things. Like loyalty/faithfulness, trust, commitment, communication etc. These are certain things that automatically come with the decision of wanting to settle down with one person and have a committed relationship.

If someone decides to keep a child and raise, you as a parent owe that child everything it needs to grow until the child gets to a certain age where he/she can fend for themselves. Its doesn’t always go without saying that things are going to be easy but the least you can do is try and do your best.

You owe any kind of relationship, that’s important to you, nurturing. You owe it to your friends to be there for them. Your friends should expect you to be there for them because if that relationship is not serving its purpose, then what’s the point?

Every relationship is a give and take. In a fair world, what you put in, is what you get out.

However, know the people you are expecting things from. I have certain that I’ve stopped calling when I need something urgently. Yes, I get disappointed when I feel the need to talk or share something heavy and I call and they don’t pick (especially because these are people who always have their phones in their hands and always like stuff on Instagram in 0.2 seconds but whenever I call, they coincidentally never pick) and that’s ok, at least I have learnt to shift my expectations to somewhere else. I know exactly who I can call when I need something in 0.2 seconds.

Yes, it is true, you get disappointed when you expect things from people. And its ok for people to disappoint. We are human beings after all. Sometimes we need time to ourselves but when they constantly disappoint you in a certain department then maybe its time to shift focus or address the issue, if it hasn’t been addressed before?

Point is, a healthy amount of expectation is ok to have in any form of relationship. Just don’t expect (too much) from the wrong people. Now, chin up and read Isaiah 41:10.

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My Red Flag

As human beings we all have our strengths, weaknesses, flaws, red flags, however you choose to label these things. Fact is, we all have them. Let me tell you about one of my “flaws” that is definitely a major red flag.

You see when the bible said we should forgive and FORGET. Yeah, I don’t think I was listening. I certainly do not forget. I don’t even know if I truly forgive or if at some point, I’m just like whatever. But I don’t forget. I know I’m working on it.

Now how did I get to this point you may wonder…..Adele!

Adele released her new single, easy on me, and I have been in my feelings ever since. Its not really about the song but it’s the tone that Adele sets with her voice and the whole atmosphere.

Whenever I listen to Adele, trust me I am going through an imaginary divorce in my head. Picture all the RnB videos from back in the day, me in a train, its training and I’m looking out the window and picturing how everything went down? You get the picture…that’s how dramatic I am.

So, since Adele released her single she has basically been on repeat. I’ve abused all the songs that I like and each time a different heartbreaking scenario comes up and this one time something came up in my head that I should have just let go but I entertained the thought and that’s how I hurt my own feelings (I wish I could insert emojis).

A few posts ago I mentioned this guy who exchanged inappropriate messages with his ex and one part of the message stood out. “I’ve been thinking about you”….Can we just have a moment of silence for me because my feelings was hurt. That sentence broke me. And in that moment as I’m listening to Adele pretending to be heartbroken, the heartbreak became real. I was right back in that moment when I found out and it all went slo-mo. I needed a minute to sit down and breath and remind myself that, his behavior had nothing to do with me because its very easy for me to get in a cycle of self-sabotage and self-doubt.

And this is how I know that I don’t forget because as soon as I allowed myself to get in that mood, that I had no business entertaining, I had everything vividly in my mind like it happened yesterday. I thought of all the times where I felt like I was being treated unfairly by anyone, not just this person.

Me not being a person who doesn’t forget, I can definitely tell you what happened on the 15. August 2002. I can break down what you said, how you said it and how it came about and if it is something that cut me deeply, I will be right back in that moment, feeling everything that I was feeling, and I will let it linger.

Me not being able to forget keeps me very cautious. I am very particular about the people I let in my life. on the other hand, being too cautious isn’t always good either. I don’t trust people easily, especially when it comes to working through things after something has happened. I’m not big on giving people chances and when I do, I hold on to things very long for the fear that the person will do me the same again. I have built this wall around me and its hard to get through, I am not going to lie about that. I am not someone who sees the best in everybody.

Now, I can blame this on the things that have happened to me in the past, and yes they may have contributed to me becoming like this but at some point we all have to take responsibility and be accountable for our actions.

Although this is something I’m working on, sometimes, I still think about that sentence and feel some type of way because I wonder if it was me, but I know it wasn’t.

Don’t be like me. Let things go so you can enjoy life, so you can enjoy your friendships and your romantic relationships. Make sure you forgive 77 times like Jesus said to peter, and make sure you forget once you’ve forgiven. And if you’re like me and you struggle with that, may God help us. Chin up and read Isaiah 41:10

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“Men settle down where they find peace”

This post is for ranting purposes only. I feel like ranting today.

First of all here are a few disclaimers:

Whatever I shall write in this post does not apply to all men.

Yes, I know women are equally trash.

I do not hate men. Quite the opposite actually and I love it when women speak highly of their men.

However, I am a heterosexual woman, dealing with only men and my friends are mainly also heterosexual who also only deal with men so yeah. I can only speak from my experience and the women around me.

Ok here we go,

What is it about men that makes them just relax after they’ve gotten the girl or the women they were so passionately chasing? Excuse me, but what nonsense behavior is that. Its like free trial period is over then they bring out their true colors.

Some stories that I have heard, seen or even experienced are actually very laughable because if we don’t laugh about it, we surely gon cry sis.

I am not really making an effort to differentiate between the married ones and the ones who are just dating or courting because just because the married ones aren’t washing their dirty lineage in public, don’t mean they ain’t suffering as well.

It’s like boy meets girl, everything is good. Boy is super romantic, appears to be emotionally intelligent, seems to be ambitious, has his shit together. In addition to that, boy does all the gestures that he knows would swoon his woman. Whether it be sending her some flowers, booking trips, planning dates or whatever it is the other party is interested in at the time. The man does all these things in hopes of impressing the woman or whatever and in return the woman obviously will reciprocate the energy.

So, boy meets girl, they fall in love, boy asks girl out and girl accepts. And then what do we do, we relax! Hmmmmmmmmmmm and that’s where trouble starts.

No dates, no flowers, no good morning beautiful, no hey mama what you need, I gotchu….nothing like that. Just boy and girl staring at each other. No random I love you baby messages….just crickets. PURE CRICKETS.

All of a sudden you start hearing stuff like “But I find it hard to express myself”, it didn’t seem so hard when you was chasing me tho. But you was posting me tho, now “I’m a private person”, are you sir or you just trynna keep your options open?

I don’t know if it’s the fact that society has conditioned us, especially black folks, to believe that women have to prove themselves just to be worthy of love. The concept of “struggle love” still very much exists. The more nonsense she accepts, proves that she loves you and would stand by her man no matter what. Excuse me sir, did you skip the part in the bible where the woman is only meant to submit and not love? Where does it state in the bible that I, a woman must love a man? Did you also skip the part where it clearly states that man should love his wife as Christ loves the church? Do we even know what that means?

Its like, if a man asks a woman to marry him, he thinks he’s doing her a favor so she has to earn it.

“Men settle down where they find peace”- aha ok, do I look like I want to settle where there’s trouble. Is it that men are the only ones who deserve peace because excuse me sir that peace you speak of was because you were also bringing me peace and now talking about “you’ve changed”. Of course I have changed. Treat me the way you used to when you were chasing me and watch me change back to the woman you had back then.

And yes, I believe that a woman in most cases is the responsive one. So how are you expecting to get what you do not give sir? From time to time speak her love language and watch her treat you like the king that you are, but men just be demanding from an empty vessel. Vessel you haven’t poured anything substantial into, in a very long time so where is the peace that you seek coming from?

I don’t want to blame our parents for how they raised their sons because at a certain age, everyone is responsible for their own actions, but I do believe that SOME mothers raised SOME entitled little kings who believe that the bare minimum will get them maximum results and it just don’t work that way.

I have so much more to say on this topic but even writing this is making me angry so I’m just going to stop here. I am not in any way disregarding that good men go through stuff in the hands of women who aren’t worth it so lets us pray to God that Good men meet good women so their love can flourish !

While we wait for somebody’s son to find us and love us healthily and openly some day, lets continue to chin up and read Isaiah 41:10.

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Relationship Saga

Heeey my lovelies, I feel like it’s been forever! I just haven’t been inspired lately plus I’ve had a crappy week. I hope you guys are doing better than I am. I literally cried myself to sleep last night. Yes, that is how bad it is.

Mind you I never cry for one reason; it was all my feelings that I had been bottling in that got triggered by one thing and then everything just comes out.

But my friend and I had this very interesting discussion about relationships because when is someone not going through relationship stuff right!?

How many times does one have to forgive (the same) behavior before deciding to stay or let go?

How many times do we have to have a conversation about the same things before deciding that the relationship is not improving?

At what point does a relationship become toxic?

Is there an exact moment for these things?

In my course of dating, I have been lied to, I have lied, I have rejected, and I have been rejected, I even caught a guy that I liked sexting with his ex. The whole inappropriate texting was not the first time that had happened to me, and it made me so paranoid.

Point of correction, I have trust issues! When it happened to me the first time, I didn’t let go, I had developed the “he didn’t sleep with her” mentality (at least as far I knew of, he hadn’t slept with her/them yet).

When it happened again, the sexting itself was minor comparing to what really hurt me. It was someone we had extensive conversations about, someone “who didn’t mean anything”, as human beings like to say,

I could actually go and on about this matter because I have the ability to put myself back in a situation and feel everything again but we move.

Now sometimes I find myself wondering if I have become a toxic partner. I wonder if I project my fears and insecurities on to people who probably don’t deserve it. I guarantee you that I have not always been like this but it seems pain changes some things about you.

But why can’t human beings just be faithful tho……. Ok now I’m drifting from my initial thought

Back to my initial thought, we see so many couples who have been together for years and yet they are so unhappy, African parents are prime example, most of us kids boast of how our grandparents and parents were married for 30+ years and we also saw how unhappy they were, we saw how grandpa and daddy had 5 other concubines outside, suddenly mummy is raising a child that isn’t hers. A lot of the men from generations before us were physically and emotionally abusive, yet we label them “strong”.

So, I ask again, when do you hold on and when do you let go?

I’ve always admired people who have worked on their relationship and came back stronger, it doesn’t matter what threw them off course, but does it mean that the one who decided to let took the easy way out?

I find it interesting that most romantic relationship issues are mostly internal. The weapon fashioning against most relationships is always at least one person in the relationship.

Someone is either lying, cheating, not communicating effectively, not listening, texting other people, hiding their partner, not giving enough attention and so many other things. Can we just love each other and let the weapon fashioning against us actually come from outside and not from within?

Oh well I wish us all luck out here because its not easy. Don’t go creating fake scenarios and hurt your feelings (I am the queen of this).

Oooooh if you thought I had an answer to the above-mentioned questions, sorry I don’t. I just wing it myself. Hell, I’ve been cheated on when I should have seen the signs so if you have any Tipps for me, let a sis know.

Until we all find our soulmates in this life, we chin up and read Isaiah 41:10.

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I (don’t) Trust you.

Have you ever trusted someone? Blindly, with your life? Yes, No? If your answer is yes, then I hope you trusted Jesus.

I find the concept of trust to be rather fascinating. Such a small word yet holds great meaning to it. The easiest way to gain is by just being honest. It might take weeks, month or even years to build yet can be lost in a matter of seconds.

One lie. One betrayal. One stab in the back and it is gone. Once it’s gone, you begin to question everything. One lie is all it takes for trust to be broken and a bunch of truth to be questioned.

Lady Gaga, in one of her songs, said “Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it’s broken, But you can still the crack in that motherf*cker’s reflection”

I recently had someone close to me break my trust and trust me I already have trust issues. I don’t trust people easily, so when I do trust someone and it gets taken for granted, I am really hurt.

Naturally, I was…. I am hurt but the tricky part is when you love someone, a family member, a friend, your spouse, you always try to understand WHY. That is always in the forefront.

The Why is, in my opinion, the reason most people take their cheating partners back. You ever noticed that after one person cheats and after we’ve all cursed them, our next course of action is to understand why! I know someone who cheated on their partner and even though we condemned this action we understood why the person did it (which in no way justifies what they had done).

The Why is the reason why toxic Family members stick around for far too long.

Why and Love. Because we love them, we want to understand. In my humble opinion, I believe that the why is our own way of somewhat justifying their actions because we tell ourselves that when we understand why they did, then maybe we can work on it and then it might not happen again.

I have used that reasoning as well. But not to stay but to leave. If I had known why, I would have stayed. Anyways now we are getting into another topic there……

Trust is like a vase, once it’s broken, though you can fix it, the vase will never be same again.

– Walter Anderson

A piece of paper does not get back to its initial form after it has been folded.

No matter how much you try to repair a plate, glass, whatever that’s breakable, it will never go back to its perfect form.

No matter how much we apologize for offending someone or hurting them with our words, we cannot take them back after they have been spoken and the person cannot “un-hear” them either. My point is Its better and easier to keep something intact than trying to repair it.

Trust dies but mistrust blossoms

– Sophocles

Trust is so delicate and if you have the power to not break it, you shouldn’t do it. Preserve your relationship with your loved ones because something so little can really mess with people’s minds. And if you have broken someone’s trust and you’re GENUINLY working on getting it back then I wish you best of luck because good and genuine people don’t come by easy these days. Put in the work. If the friendship or relationship with anyone is worth it, work on reinstating the trust, and I know it is hard. I have been there. Multiple times. While you’re working on regaining someone’s trust or working on trusting someone back, don’t forget to chin up and read Isaiah 41:10.