I try to live by this principle. Doesn't always get easy, but future me is much happier when I pack a good lunch, work out, plan ahead, and set goals. I try to think of future me as a roommate that I share a home and body with. When I'm an asshole to that roommate, I really start to resent that roommate.

This would be really cool if it was computer drawn, but the fact that it's acrylic amazes me! Such a great job on the linework and coloring.

Same here! It was absolutely the most soul crushing painful thing I ever experienced. It ruined my self confidence and didn't know if I could ever recover.

Now after extensive therapy and learning as much as I could about what happened, I'm able to help people in all the support groups that originally helped me.

You can even find them at the dollar store labeled as marbles!

Sorry you went through it too. It's hard to look back in hindsight with what you know now.

There's a therapist on youtube Dr. Ramani that I suggest looking up. She actually has a video out today about gas lighting and blame shifting. Understanding the psychology of it all and that you weren't alone in the experience has been the most helpful for me.

Same. "We talk out our issues and work on our problems together" sounded smart, but it really meant he could manipulate and coerce me in private. If I had shared with just one person what was going on then I would've had clarity that things weren't right.

Experiencing real gas lighting where you get to the point of not trusting your sense of reality anymore is traumatizing. The first step is isolating you from outside opinions.