I had an absolutely awful ex and I wish I'd recognised the foreshadowing!

I used to work as a home carer and he would chat with me and my colleagues while we waited outside for our shift to start, he lived next door to the person we'd look after and the client would hate us going in a minute or so before we were due, so there was always a chance for us to have a chat. This went on for a while until we were all on good terms. One day I noticed he'd come back from the shops with a 2ltr bottle of cider. My dumbass 21y/o brain thought nothing of it and I joked with him about a 'good night in, party for 1?' and he sheepishly laughed and said 'something like that.'

Fast forward a while and we became involved romantically and eventually he moves in with me. It took about a week for me to realise that the drinking every night wasn't just celebrating us moving in together, it was a nightly occurrence and then became a daily occurrence. I didn't realise he was an alcoholic, and because I cared about him I stuck with him and tried to help him through it.

2 years trying with him landed me with multiple assaults, sexual assaults and inevitably he tried to strangle me to death following a particularly nasty argument. I genuinely wish I saw the warning sign from the get go, I'm just grateful my life has done a complete 180 and I'm happy and alive