Dear Christine,
I AM LIVING WITH A MAN who really showed his true colours after we were together for three months.
I supposed even before then he was showing me what he was like since, if we went out socially, I could not dance with anyone else. If I said “hello” to a man he would ask me all sorts of questions.
You know how it is when you are first in love. I didn’t really mind then, but things have got worse.
He won’t even let me go to church unless he is going. If I go to a doctor he has to come. If he catches me looking out of the window he wants to know if it is a man I am looking for. When I answer him he slaps me about cruelly.
I would like to leave this man, but I have no family and I do not want to live alone.
I am prepared to put up with anything within reason, but this is too much, yet I do not want to be alone. What can you do to help me?
– P.J.
Dear P.J.,
I am not sure if there is anything I can do to help.
You know you are unhappy with this man. You know he is ill-treating and abusing you, yet you seem willing to let him abuse you rather than be on your own where you can be free from his cruelty.
What do you expect me to tell you? As far as I am concerned, you are already as much alone as you can be. He is not really with you.
Think seriously about what is going on in your life and ask yourself if you’re being fair to you.
If you want to free, then you have to start by taking that one step to freedom. The choice is yours.
– CHRISTINE
