By Guest Blogger, Nancy Salamone, Author of “Victory Over Violence”
www.nancysstory.com
I am Nancy Salamone and I’m a survivor of domestic violence.
For 20 years I kept a secret from my family and co-workers. The secret was that I was physically, emotionally and economically abused by my ex- husband. I kept this secret for 20 years – because I was ashamed.
Then on December 28, 1991 I left. To this day I do not know the Nancy who left but I will always be grateful to that person inside me who summoned the courage to leave.
I have written “Victory Over Violence” which is my story in the hopes that women who are in a domestic violent relationship, or those who are struggling with the decision to leave – or who have made the decision to leave, know that there is a way out no matter how long it takes-and they too can create their own Victory Over Violence.
For many years I was plagued with nightmares about the abuse I had endured and needed to find a way to alleviate the pain of that experience and that is when I began the process of writing “Victory Over Violence”. I started by writing short vignettes about my life and soon found the more I wrote the more I recalled. I also found that the more I wrote the lighter I felt. The process of writing my story helped me purge myself of my past and release the stress I felt for many years.
Once I began writing I could not stop. My mind was like a movie that recalled in vivid detail the abuse I had endured. Yet no matter how hard the process was once I had written it down the horror movie that was playing over and over in my mind seem to vanish. One by one the years of abuse I endured started to slip away and I felt liberated.
Writing “Victory Over Violence” was my way of letting go of my demons.