Post by @paulaarries

I knew I deserved better. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was looking at my kids, the bills, the house, groceries, the car, everything it takes to keep a family going… and thinking: How the fuck am I supposed to afford to leave? That’s the part people love to skip over when they say, “Just leave.” Okay. And then what? Because leaving when you have children isn’t just packing a bag and finding your peace. It’s figuring out how to keep food in the fridge. How to cover the bills. How to pay for childcare. How to keep your kids’ lives from completely falling apart while yours already feels like it is. And if your partner has controlled the money, made you feel incapable, questioned everything you spend, or made you believe you couldn’t survive without them? That fear gets even louder. Sometimes women don’t stay because they still want the relationship. They stay because they are fucking terrified of what happens financially if they leave. That was the part I had to solve. Not whether I deserved better. I already knew that. I needed a plan that gave me options. Income. Skills. Something I could build from my phone. Something that belonged to me. Because the goal wasn’t to leave and pray I figured it out afterward. The goal was to start building enough independence that money stopped being the thing keeping me there. And if you’re sitting there thinking, “Okay… so what did you actually do?” Comment PLANS and I’ll share the plan I took to start building my way out. You do not have to have your entire life figured out today. But you do deserve to start building choices. #FinancialAbuse #LeavingAnAbusiveRelationship #WomenRebuilding #StartingOverAfterAbuse #FinancialIndependenceForWomen