Sparks Speaks Out™ - Susan's Tell-All Blog
In the world of domestic abuse, words mean everything. Words and intimidation are carefully crafted weapons that are used in the same way that fists and other objects are used in the world of domestic violence.
But words can also heal and words can bring hope. For twenty years I lost my words while I hid behind closed doors and lived in fear. I have a lot to say about that. I say it for you. I say it for me. I say it for everyone who is, has, or will be touched by domestic abuse. It’s finally time to shake things up.
What It’s Like to be a Ghost on Social Media
SPARKS SPEAKS OUT™ — I reach out and your fingers slip through mine… You can’t see me, but I need to be seen. You can’t know who I am, but I need to be known. I’m not a riddle. I’m a real person. My life is not an easy one. I can’t say it’s the hardest life...
5 Tips for Online Dating After Divorce
SPARKS SPEAKS OUT™ — We didn’t ask for it, but here we are… When I last left the single’s scene, it was all about college parties, spilled drinks, and locking eyes with a cute guy across a crowded room. I come back, some 20 years later, and it now looks the...
3 Ways Not to Ruin Your Next First Date
A strategy that takes us back to when life was simpler. Like most singles these days, I use dating apps to meet new people. When looking through dating profiles, I find it really odd when someone says, “Let’s go have our last first date ever.” I get the sentiment...
How to be a Working Mom and Still Keep Your Sh#t Together
Four strategies for getting in front of the chaos. I know what you’re thinking: Really? I don’t even have time to count to four, you want me to stop what I’m doing and learn something new? Yep, I get you. I am you. I’m not just the working mom, I am the working single...
What do you do when your ex-husband uses your court orders as toilet paper?
As many of us who are divorced already know, the court proceedings and its accompanying rulings are often not the end of the battle. In fact, they are frequently the kindling that ignites the fires that our exes start burning almost the moment we leave the courtroom...
Four Brides and a Train
The ride of your life. Which one would you choose?
Best Breakup Story EVER – I was ghosted with a ghost cake.
What’s worse than being ghosted, worse than being dumped on Halloween? Get ready for the Best Breakup Story Ever contest!
How Dating Apps Are Like Bulk Candy Stores
Does your dating app give you more choices than one of those candy stores with aisles of sugar? Try these 3 rules for better dating.
Flowers and Chocolates and Broken Dreams
What better time than today to take a closer look at love? What did we once think it would be, and how are we feeling about that now?
Read This: It may one day save your life – or the life of someone you love.
What did one boy do when faced with immediate danger, and what can we learn from it? Find out, it could save your life one day.
Why do I do this? Three simple words. Not so simple.
Why a Survivor of Domestic Abuse would work in the field of abuse. Susan poses the question: What are we going to tell our kids?
Relationship Disaster Again? What You Can Learn From the Boss of You.
You’ve had the answers all along – how will you use them? I recently spoke with two members in the field of psychology and those conversations have rocked my world. Starting with one and ending with another, I discovered why I keeping messing up my relationships and...
10 Tips for Avoiding AND Escaping Domestic Abuse
Let’s countdown to a safer 2019. For many, the holidays are a time of joy, togetherness, and warm memories made in front of crackling fireplaces. When friends, family, and loved ones come together, there are celebrations, traditions, and lots of presents to open. But,...
Recovering from Domestic Abuse: 2 Steps to a Stronger You TODAY
A simple plan that will teach you how to stop running from your fear. While once we have been traumatized there is no substitute for actual therapy, I have learned from my own therapist that we have to have strategies at home, on our own, to turn to when life comes...
NFL Players and Domestic Violence: Accused and Arrested & Still Getting Paid?
An abuse survivor and former member of the sports industry has a message for the NFL. A lot of media attention has been placed on Reuben Foster recently as he was released by the San Francisco 49ers and then immediately picked up by the Washington Redskins after being...
Domestic Abuse Inside the Courtroom
Domestic What? Exactly. There are so many silent epidemics that plague women in our nation, and yet domestic abuse is one that we often still struggle with. We recognize mental illness, cardiovascular disease, and Lyme disease when these strike women. Some are hard to...
The Intoxicating Effects of Compassionate Men – Domestic Abuse Survivors Beware
Answers from the Other Side To say dating is tricky for survivors of domestic abuse (SODAs®) is beyond an understatement. Our lives, once full of ridicule, rage, harassment, control, fear, intimidation, and so much more, may have started over when we were able to...
2 Things You Must Know Before Going through a Divorce with Your Abuser – And the 2 Things You Can Do About It.
Once a twenty year victim, and now a six year Survivor of Domestic Abuse (SODA®), I don’t often see myself as a victim any longer. But I have to tell you there are still those days. It occurred to me today that I should tell you about them too, because it’s not fair...
