This is where I grew up. When I was a preteen and an adolescent, the trailer wasn’t so grungy. But the trees weren’t so lush and green either. That shed in the background is where I raised fifty baby pheasant from egg to adulthood, and later two young raccoons. It would also eventually become an …
It’s natural to want to hide things we fear others will judge us for. Everyone has experienced that hot flush of blood to the face when something you wanted to keep hidden is exposed. Is it embarrassment? Sometimes. Other times we might feel mortified or devastated. The latter emotions in particular can feel so overwhelming …
He said he loved me. He said he could never hurt me. He told me that I was his special little girl. He was my dad and I believed him until . . . Until he made me pose naked for his camera when I was five years old. Until he kicked the two-legged cat …
I recently asked my readers what DO we mean when we say “Be a man” or “Man up?” And why are we so frightened that our boys won’t turn out to be “REAL men?” In a moving display of vulnerability and honesty, men of various ages and circumstances shared their answers to these questions as …
My relationship troubles began long before I ever entered into a romantic relationship. My parents were locked into a violent and abusive marriage that trained me to believe there are winners and losers – victims and perpetrators in all relationships. Because of my training, I only knew how to submit to my partner’s wishes or …
I have only been in love – truly, deeply in love – twice in my life. So I can be extremely tenacious when the inevitable challenges to relationship arise. I don’t give up easily. I don’t walk away at the first sign of trouble. When I was much younger, I hoped that the intensity of …
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Veronica Monet, ACS
The Shame Free Zone
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