This podcast is my story of getting out of an emotionally and financially abusive marriage as an American woman married to a Japanese man living in Japan. When we are subject to abuse, we often feel ashamed, like we are somehow allowing it to happen, or we deserve it. When we bear abuse in silence, we give our abusers the power. I want to tell my stories to let other abused women know they are not alone. I also want to help people with loved ones in abusive relationships understand why it's so hard to "just leave."