Have You Been Betrayed? Pt. 1

The 5 things I learned from my experience.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Betrayal hurts. I think we expect poor behavior and lousy attitudes expressed in our direction from our enemies. That is never something we look forward to, but for the most part, we understand it. I think also, we have come to almost expect it.

Although when hurt, anger and blame are sent our way and initiated by one whom we once trusted or even loved, we don’t call that bad behavior. We call it betrayal.

And that really hurts.

I was betrayed by someone whom I thought loved me. Maybe they still do, I am not sure. In fact, as I have gone through this experience, I wonder if they actually have the capacity to love.

The injury and scarring we feel from an experience like this can be felt so deeply that professional counseling may be in order. The wounded one will be in the best place to judge if licensed and qualified assistance is necessary. Perhaps a trusted other may also direct you towards a helping hand if needed.

I was seriously hurt, and yes, I was betrayed about a year ago by a family member. It was an excruciatingly painful experience. It was so bad I did not even really want to talk about it, let alone write about it.

But today, I made a breakthrough.

Have I completed my journey? Is the agony over with? Well, I wish it was. But I am sure my lacerated soul will mourn again in the future. However, today is a great day, something of a new start for me.

Let me share with you a few of the things I have learned along this difficult path. Later, in part 2 of this series, I will list some of the concrete actions I took to ease my pain.

I will start, however, with 5 lessons I learned.

I — Realize this will take time.

If you have been hurt deeply it will take time for your wound to heal. For me, the pain has come to a head for most of last year, but I could see the writing on the wall for the last two or even three years. I was just hoping it would not end catastrophically — unfortunately, it has.

So don’t think your wrenching gut will be all better in the morning after you take a…