As I was growing up in a home where I was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused, where the adults were addicted to substances such as alcohol or drugs, where chaos thrived, I lived in denial.  Even when I knew in my mind and in my heart that something was amiss, but wasn’t sure what;  that my life was unmanageable, but wasn’t sure why;  that one day I would be free but wasn’t sure when, I lived in denial.  Even when I had an unrelenting hope that one day, my life would be different, I wouldn’t ever again have to suffer these atrocities, and the hurt would suddenly disappear when I was gone, I lived in denial.

“Hope is the denial of reality.”

                      ~Margaret Weis

My denial was an unconscious process.   At first, I recognized inappropriate…