u/Dramatic_Reserve5984

My husband was served with divorce papers this week. Since then, he has refused to file a response and keeps insisting that I delay the divorce or reconcile because he has suddenly “changed.” He has known for two years that I wanted a divorce, and every time before when he claimed he would change, the abuse only escalated.

Over the course of this marriage, I have endured severe verbal, emotional, psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Now that I was finally able to take legal steps to get a lawyer and file, he has involved his family, my family, friends, and even an Imam to pressure me into dismissing the divorce and reconcile. I feel completely cornered and overwhelmed.

My health is declining from the stress. I have no support from anyone. I feel isolated, exhausted, and emotionally destroyed. Getting physical separation from him will still take months, and the constant pressure from everyone around me is making this even harder. Since it is clear nobody thinks my suffering means anything.

I am not posting because I want advice, I genuinely just need empathy and emotional support. I need someone to acknowledge how painful and terrifying this is since nobody in my life cares.

After more than 3 years of marriage involving repeated domestic violence, emotional and verbal abuse, coercive control, and reproductive coercion, I was finally able to get a lawyer through legal aid and file for divorce yesterday.

I don’t feel relief. I feel exhausted and scared.

He has already threatened to drag this out for as long as possible to drain all his money to make sure I get nothing, and try to take custody of my child through false allegations. Other times, he’s threatened to abandon us entirely.

I’ve had almost no real support through any of this. Most people around me either minimized what was happening or avoided it completely. Getting to this point took everything I had.

Right now, I’m still living with him because I have nowhere else to go. Until there’s a temporary hearing, I’m stuck with him. I’m mentally and physically drained, and the idea of how long and difficult this process will be feels overwhelming.

I don’t really have any hope about what life looks like after this.

I’m sharing this because I feel completely alone in it. If anyone has been through something similar, I could really use support right now.