Trigger warning, domestic abuse.

When I was a child my mother was in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship. After she kicked him out he began stalking us, leaving things at our house and begging her to take him back.

Eventually we moved into a shelter for abuse survivors, and we stayed there for quite some time. New school, new place, and little to no contact with people from my previous life.

This was many years ago and we got through it as a family. I thought that I was able to brush it off, that somehow it didn’t really impact me, since I felt fine about the move and settled in fast and since then it has had no long term effect on me. Talking about it with people, or others bringing it up has never upset me.

But tonight I was watching something and the family escaped and moved into a shelter in a similar way to me. It suddenly resurfaced all of my memories of the event, and it made me feel really upset and anxious. It’s been nearly 9 years since it happened and I’ve never experienced any issues until now. I have no idea what to do or how to process this.