Do you know if you are a child of domestic violence?

Don’t be surprised if you’re not quite sure, or if your mind attempts to discount any “trouble” you may have experienced at home while growing up. Unfortunately, few people are aware of the impact on life that growing up with domestic violence can have.

Answering this question honestly for yourself, however, sets you on a path that can set you free from the lies you learned if you were a child of domestic violence.

I encourage you to consider: Did you, at any given time, live in a household where the people you loved lashed out at each other, or at you, either physically or non-physically?

Did you endure a threat of violence or suffer sleepless nights and wary days because you never knew when a sudden storm of hostility might strike between the adults in your home?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you are a child of domestic violence—along with 1 billion other people worldwide.

As you may know, I too am a child of domestic violence and, like so many of us, I grew up assuming my
experiences were normal and that my emotions were normal. I also knew better than to talk about it with anyone.

Increasing awareness and understanding was a key reason for writing my book Invincible: The 10 Lies
You Learn Growing Up With Domestic Violence, And The Truths To Set You Free, on which this series of blog posts is based.

My other reason was to ask the question: Can a childhood filled with violence be transformed into one filled with strength, love, and freedom?

As the answer began to present itself I discovered an empowering truth: that those who have suffered childhood violence possess an innate resilience, fortitude and capacity for achievement—not in spite of what we experienced, but because of it.

Please share in the comments below: how would you describe yourself or your childhood? Do you believe that any domestic violence you grew up with still affects you today?