Leaving an abusive relationship takes a lot of strength and courage. It can take years of rallying to find the moment when you can take a step back or move away. When you do make that decision, there is real empowerment but a lot of heartache to navigate as well. The focus after breaking away should always be on finding ways to heal and move forward with your life in a healthier framework. This is important for protecting well-being and building confidence for future relationships where you will learn to advocate for your needs too. This guide has some healthy ways to heal after an abusive relationship ends.
Take the Time to Get to Know Yourself Again
Quite often during an abusive relationship, even if it only lasted for a short while, the victim goes through either a major or minor loss of identity. Learning who you are again is an integral step toward healing. Think about all the things you used to do when you were an independent person and try to gain some of that back so you can re-find who you are outside of the scope of the abusive bubble. This will be a long journey, but it will come with time and engagement.
Find a Therapist
Therapy will be a major part of your healing journey, but it is vital that you don’t jump into this until you feel ready. This might be a few years down the line or a few weeks, it is different for everyone. Therapy, regardless of the format, is designed to support and unpick what you’ve been through. It may also be a way to find coping tactics and mechanisms to move in a more positive light.
Support in Exploring Legal Action
An additional route to take is to contact a lawyer to go through an official channel for taking action against your abuser. The motivation is always different, for instance, some people may want justice for their injuries or psychological state post-relationship. Other people might just want to protect future humans from suffering the same course that they have been through. Whatever the motivation, legal representation can bring you a better form of closure than you can find on your own.
Decide How You’re Going to Stay Safe
One part of healing is making sure you have a supportive network so that you can feel secure. A part of finding peace is knowing that you never have to go back to an abusive situation. Put as many things in place to create barriers of support and create your own independent network and space to facilitate this journey. Thinking about your future may be hard after the initial break period, but your future is the most important bit.
Domestic abuse is something that will always be taken seriously. There are real channels of support in the legal framework that can bring you a sense of peace and resilience alongside other more personal actions like therapy too. Find your healing by engaging with your future.
