“Why don’t you just leave?” Or, once you have left, people say, “Get over it.” The reality is, it is not so simple. By the time Charles and I separated, I was in a state of post-traumatic stress. My disentanglement and disengagement from Charles was a process. It involved not only taking off blinders and seeing what was happening in the relationship but also looking at and absorbing what I saw. Sometimes it was painful. It took time, a long time, which I needed to allow myself.
