I’ve lived in my flat I am in now for 4 years, when I moved in I threw out as much as I could, from my ‘old’ life, Obviously buying in all new furniture just couldn’t happen, so a few things came along with me, which I couldn’t replace. Mainly bedroom furniture and a high-fi cabinet. I decided to get rid of most of my personal belongings, apart from things that I could turn around and say so and so gave me that on….. it went either on eBay, to the charity shop or for things that were no good for either of those either recycled or dumped, it helped me get together some money to buy enough new bits to make my new flat feel like home, along with a lot of help from my parents and the local Charity’s with white goods and carpets.

 As of this moment I have 3 pieces of furniture left that are from my ‘old life’ a bookcase, a small draw set and the wardrobe. I feel in love with this wardrobe, it was meant to be part of a new start that never happened. It spent a few short months up in my old flat, before I moved into the refuge after I deiced I needed help, I couldn’t get out of the cycle of abuse myself, as much as I believed I was strong enough, I had become accustomed to that way of life, to being told what to do – and standing on my own two feet, just didn’t seem possible.

The wardrobe wasn’t well put together first time around and having to be dismantled then bogged together I am surprised it has lasted me so long – around 12 months ago one draw went wonky, it finally fell out 6 months later and since then I’ve watched more and more fall away. On Friday a new wardrobe was ordered YAY! Which now means the old one is coming down. And I have to admit there is something quite satisfying about watching it be broken into bits, every time one of those last things is removed, there’s yet another sense of realise.

So sorry to my neighbours for the bashing crashing and banging that’s bound to ensue but I must say that it’s nice to see it going – to say goodbye to the past and hello to the future.

If you haven’t read about my time dealing with domestic violence the feel free to have a read through my post on it: Domestic Violence.