Dear Raven:

You wrote: “Be vulnerable and honest with them to be able to “walk through a new door” OR shut that door because it’ll slam in my face like it has ALWAYS done in the past”-

my answer: shut that door.

Meaning, your contact with his family members who continue their abuse of you must end. If your husband refuses to make such ending possible for you, then the door needs to be shut at him as well, that is, separate and divorce.

A marriage where one spouse operates against the well being of the other, repeatedly, refusing to consider a solution, an ending to ongoing emotional damage to the other is… not only not worth keeping, but it is well worth ending.

anita