{"id":1843,"date":"2025-10-14T10:00:03","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T10:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hillsinthevalley.com\/blog\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:55:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:55:46","slug":"the-journey-to-forgiveness-series-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hillsinthevalley.com\/blog\/the-journey-to-forgiveness-series-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The story behind the story!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Even in the late \u201980s (if that was your birth era, not the Gen Zs or Millennials\u2014JK), we were raised to believe that a \u201cgood woman\u201d never walks away.
A good woman endures.
A good woman stays, no matter what.
And walking away? That was seen as shameful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, those lessons made sense back then. Isn\u2019t it shameful to begin something and not finish? To give up without trying, especially with kids involved. What do you teach them\u2014endurance or escape? I still believe in working things out. I still believe love takes effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Here\u2019s what life taught me the hard way\u2014there\u2019s a point where stooping becomes doomed.<\/strong> That\u2019s why I wrote 3<\/strong><\/em>65 Days of Building Strength Through the Hills & Valleys of Life<\/em>.<\/strong> It wasn\u2019t random, and it wasn\u2019t for show. It was survival. Still is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click below to check it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/a.co\/d\/0gmNsqg<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

What is not a Poem – My Stooping Story \ud83d\udc94 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I stooped\u2026 too many times to count.
I begged to be seen\u2014not figuratively, but literally.
I begged to be assured, to be acknowledged, to be loved.
I owned up, proudly at first, then desperately, until I broke down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I kept saying, \u201cI\u2019m tired,\u201d but no one heard me.
I was told to look away, to mind my business, to endure\u2014and I did, until I couldn\u2019t anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t perfect either. Anger became my companion.
Yelling\u2014my second-best friend.
Even though I\u2019m still on this journey, I look back three years ago and remember how I shouted just to feel heard. I even confessed that unhealthy behavior to the therapist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the lowest of my stooping moments?
When I had to confront a whirlwind,<\/em> I never imagined I\u2019d face in that institution, when my belongings were shared without my consent. That day, I lost the little sanity I had left and tried to retrieve it with the last bit of strength in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019d think that was the final straw. But even after choosing a fresh start, I heard the words that sliced through me:
\u201cI don\u2019t love you anymore.\u201d<\/strong>
Words do hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Journey to \u201cUnstooping\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Today, I\u2019m learning to unstoop<\/em>\u2014to unlearn the patterns that taught me love equals endurance at all costs. I\u2019m learning that peace is not weakness, and leaving doesn\u2019t mean failure. Sometimes, walking away is the most courageous act of self-respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m grateful for the progress.
I\u2019m not fully healed, but I\u2019m not where I used to be.
And if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned, it\u2019s this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don\u2019t wait until you\u2019re irreparable before you leave. Leave with your life\u2014and with enough sanity left to rebuild.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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