Peyton Kathleen

 When I was going through my divorce, I decided to attend Divorce Care at Watermark church in Dallas. It seemed like a really great program, and before the shit went down, I actually got some good things out of it. It was every Tuesday night, and at the beginning of the meetings, everyone- men and women- gathered in a large room to preview a short video about the week's topic. The leaders of the Divorce Care ministry were a husband and wife who had both been previously married. They shared their testimony, how they had now been married 25+ years, and were a beautiful blended family. They were supposed to be our guides and inspiration, I guess. After the video we would go into small groups, where men met with men, and women met with women. Overall, I think the curriculum for the Divorce Care ministry was really great. I enjoyed the reading material and the devotionals I was provided. However, I felt a lot of judgement in the actual small group setting. I was 27 at the time, and was ...

 During and after my divorce I did a lot of reading on Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and every sentence hit like a gut punch. As I went down the rabbit hole, I could see my ex in every definition, scenario, and example. Just like any disorder, there is a wide range of severity with NPD. I believe my ex is on the severe end. How the narcissist treated me as a partner: Saw me as trophy he won and wanted to show off Was OBSESSED with my appearance I had to be bleach blonde Had to have french manicure nails Wanted me to "dress like a slut" in front of his friends Nagged me about getting a boob job- pestered me constantly about when I would finally do it Only bought me clothes he felt were slutty enough Called me lazy and undisciplined if I didn't work out every day Was disgusted by me when I gained 5 pounds Constantly food-shamed me Made comments about how "plain" and "average" his friend's wives were, how he would never settle for women like they...