Strange concept I guess, but that is what I had to do. I had to learn to love life again. And I can't say I was totally successful, because that would be lying. And I don't want to do that. There are still parts of my life that I don't love. And there are parts of my life that I don't particularly like. But isn't that the way with everyone. I didn't wish to love my whole life. I just needed to accept my life. And that was harder done than said believe me. How can you accept the fact that I had been abused by my own Dad? I didn't know. And it was not like anyone could tell me...

But deep down I knew it was something I had to do if I was to move on. 

I had to find a way of not only accepting my past, but learning to live in the present. 

It was hard, and it did take time, but eventually I found a way to let my Father go. 

It was like having a box, and packing all the bad memories inside, and then sealing it, putting on a really high shelf, and only ever taking it down to add others in. Others that for whatever reason I did not want to remember. 

I remember sitting on my bed on night, it was late and my room was pitch black, there was just this tiny gap in my curtains, and I looked out into the night, and did this. I put all the memories of my Father in this cardboard box and put them away, because I didn't want to remember them, or him. 


I wanted him gone...out of my life. And I never, ever wanted to see him again for as long as I live. 

Kat x
 
I thought I was, and maybe in those few days before I went back to school I was okay. But pressure changes you. 

Pressure of homework, GCSE's, lessons, well, just the whole of school was pressure really. Anyway, I'm going off topic here. 

I thought I was okay. I really did. I consentrated on the little things in life. Like Music. Painting. Writing. Drawing. Things that made me happy. Things that made feel good. I tried not to focus on HIM. Or IT. Or anything that could possibly bring me down. I tried to forget. 

I tried to make everyone think I was okay. But I don't think I was, not deep down. Sure I did try to fool myself. But I don't think I did. To be honest, I don't think I fooled anyone. 
 
I wanted it all to end...life was stupid, upsetting and so very frustrating. I couldn't cope with feeling, feeling anything. Being numb was so much easier. 

I didn't want my family, I didn't want my friends, I didn't want school, I didn't want to learn, I didn't want any of it, I didn't want to live. Yet I know I couldn't die. So what was I meant to do? 

There was no escape. I had no freedom. My Mum was always there. There was no way out of it. I didn't want to see people. Yet I didn't want Mum following me everywhere. 

I just feel so useless, like I wasn't wanted. And maybe I wasn't, I never did anything right, and I really didn't try, I was just like a spare part. Not really a part of anything. Just there.

Nothing made me feel better, and so I retreated more and more into myself, living inside my head. In a world only I knew existed. A world that is still with me. A World that helps me through each and every day, good or bad. 

I knew what I needed though. I needed a friend. A friend who knew me better than I knew myself. I needed a friend to love me, who I could turn to when I was feeling down, who would hug me, and love me and tell me it was going to be okay. In short what I needed was a Connie...(I'll explain another time).
 
I had plenty of these...which my Mum was not pleased with...I could be so happy one moment...the next rock bottom...and so she came up with a 'simply solution'. Hormone Tablets. They didn't work. I am still on them. Because it keeps her happy. But seriously..there was no difference. I just learnt to hide the rock bottom moments. 

And I guess thats what you have to do. You have to stop thinking of how rough you feel, and work towards making other people happy. 

I did hate most of my family during that period because, simply I couldn't be honest with them, I had to be the happy bunny, not that I did a good job of that. They all knew I was not happy, yet they didn't know how to help me, but then again who does know who to deal with abuse? They thought that counseling would help me. But then Mum would question me about the counseling session, and well what was I going to tell her. That I felt that the only reason I was trying to be 'better' was because of her? That I didn't know who I was? That I hated myself? I think not. So counseling just became awkward. 

But hell, I still went, because it made my family happy. It made my Mum feel like she was helping me. It made them think that I was getting 'better'. And that is what you have to do. Do things that don't necessarily make you happy, but make others happy. You have to be an adult. And put others first. 

Kat xox
 
I once had a really weird dream, that has stayed with me for a long time. 

I dreamt that my Mum kicked me out of the house, which is NOT going to happen, but anyway. I got in this car that was waiting outside, I don't know who was driving, all I know is that we drove off. They dropped me off somewhere and I just started to walk. A little while later I cam across this track, and there was Sara walking down it with someone else, they were walking away from me, but I called out and as she turned the space between us was suddenly gone, and there she was hugging me. 

I know that we carried on walking, and then we reached what I guess was Sara's house. She let me live with her. 

It was a good dream, but I know that it will never happen. 

And I guess that you have to accept reality for what it is...as much as I would love to live my dream life, I know that it cannot happen. So I have to focus on reality, and living it to the full. I know that I can't suddenly become 5ft 5" and 8 stone. I know that I can't suddenly be a Commander in the Army, running an Academy in the midlands. I know that I can't be a surgeon working in Queen Elizabeths Hospital. I can't do these things. But I can get good enough A Levels to allow me to study History at University. I know that I can write a book about these things though...

All it takes is belief...xx

Kat xx
 
Time never waited. It didn't wait for me to cope, it just kept flying by, never giving me time to adjust to the crazy situation I had found myself in. Time never waits, not even for those who have power and wealth beyond human imagination. 

I wished that I was free, I wished that I was a surgeon. I wished that I was living my dream. 


I seemed to be living inside my head, that was the only place where I felt safe. Inside the realms of my mind was a lot nicer world, a kinder world, a world where I felt like I belonged. Admittedly the world that I imagined did hold a lot of death and sorrow, but there was always another side to it, a side that held peace and love and happiness, laughter and joy, adventure and freedom. My world, my escape took reality and fantasy and twisted them into something impossible, yet beautiful. I wished, and still do wish, a thousand times a day that I was living that life. 


Days all seemed that same, I was barely aware of the world passing me by. All my feelings were crazy seeming to me. I knew that I needed to sort them out somehow, but I didn't know where to start. 


I pushed my family away, whether I meant to or not, it happened. I was determined not to cry, and not be weak anymore. I did what everyone told me not to. I tried to stand alone. 


And I lost myself inside my mind, because that was my escape, that was the one thing that kept me going, the one thing that never let me down. The one thing that allowed me to be exactly who I wanted to be. The one thing that was my comfort. It was simply my life. It was everything that I needed it to be. There I was someone. 


So my message for today is to find what helps you to cope and to grab onto it with both hands, and stick to it, if it helps to forget what ever it is you have had to cope with, even if it is for a few minutes a day then do it. Because we all need an escape. But don't let it push out your real life, because that makes it harder to accept what has happened, and in order to move forward you DO have to accept it. 


Well, until tomorrow 


Kat x