Name Your Demons

As anyone who has read Harry Potter knows, fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself. I’ve spent several years trying as hard as I can not to say the name of the person who hurt me. I’ve called him “shitty abusive ex” many times, and long enough that the times that I did say his name were enough to hurt me and have him on my mind for days.

I’m done with that. I will name my demons, to myself and those around me. I won’t name him here because that... isn’t the point. But I won’t hide from it in my own heart. He is not a monster. He is a man who did bad things. He is a man who I met at the wrong time in both of our lives.

I’ve had to spend some time talking and thinking about him over the past few days because some events in my current life have felt far too similar to events from that point in time. They are not related, but my mind tied a string between them nonetheless. But taking the time to unravel that string means I’ve looked at those events more thoroughly. I have examined their continued influence over me and I’ve gotten one step closer to excising that influence from my life.

If you can, speak the name of your demons. If you can’t yet, don’t feel bad. Even some of the strongest wizards were afraid of You Know Who. It took Ron Weasley a long time to overcome his fear too.