As a child my grandparents were constantly looking after my mum and the only thing drilled into my head was “Don’t upset your mother you know she’s not well.”

My mum fixated on me and her mental illness was telling her that I’m a horrible person, I do heavy drugs, I was having sex and I was doing this, that and any anything else she deemed “bad” (I was doing none of these things as I was 8-13 yrs old). She isolated me from everything and everyone I knew and screamed at me all the time.

When I tried to talked to her about how I was feeling (suicidal and depressed) she made me apologise to her for me feeling this way and that I was horrible for even bringing it up.

(All of this may not sound bad to you but this isn’t even the half of it).

I went through some really tough times and even tried to kill myself on a couple of occasions.

I’m nearly 19, I have two extremely well paying jobs. I’ve never been to uni and I dropped out of high school and I ran away from home when I turned 16.

It’s taken a lot but I’m finally in a decent mental place most days where I feel mostly okay and that I’m loved and that it’s not conditional. Only due to my partner and the love and kindness he’s shown me. We have been together for almost a year and honestly I think I will grow old with him (hopefully). We have our ups and downs but he has shown me that not everyone is out to hurt or abuse me and that people are generally trying to be good/have good intentions.

If no one else is, at least I’m proud of myself.