Abuse is defined as the misuse or treatment of someone or something in a bad way or for a bad purpose.

While physical abuse has always had validation and credibility because of its violent nature and visual wounds, invisible abuse is just as valid. Emotional and psychological abuse leads to serious consequences such as fear, depression, physical ailments, anxiety, and even PTSD.

By acting in an uninterested and unresponsive manner (enter the gray rock), the objective is for the toxic person to lose interest in you. You stop feeding their needs for attention or drama.

A lot of us have heard the airline safety instruction ‘put on your own oxygen mask before putting on your child’s’. This same instruction has been used to provide imagery for helping our children with their dysregulated emotions while at the same time our own emotions are dysregulated.

Something kept coming up for me when Donald Trump first started running for President. It was more than the overt vulgarity, immaturity and bullying. But I knew I had to push back against these things. I know now that this was the beginning of the end of my 25 year marriage.