Julie Griffin Pritchard

Spirit Cracked not Broken Julie Griffin Pritchard

I witnessed what addiction can do and the mental illness which creates fear frustration and hate. My parents were not born addicts and no one is born an addict. The scars of my childhood and later adult hood come out in hyper sensitivity and vulnerability. I grew into a people pleaser. I made terrible mistakes of judgement and became easy prey for predators. A smile turning to a frown, a change in a voice and showing indifference would destroy me inside. Your senses are heightened when you come from abuse. I can sense bad vibes way before others. I am not comfortable around people because my lack of trust was broken so many times. Still, I go out into the big world with my soul bare. There have been many times when I did not want to be on this planet, yet I found a voice inside me willing me to live. The voice was called self belief. It took many years for me to find the strength and courage to survive my abusive past. I learnt to thrive and lead a good life from empathy, compassion and love. The reason why I have written Spirit Cracked not Broken is not to blame or shame. I wrote this collection because I do not want anyone to wait until the age of 55 to leave the shame and guilt behind and learn to forgive and have self respect, but most of all to love yourself. For Suzanne, Sean and my father.