I want to share something, to hopefully give some men hope.

I don't want to go to deeply into why I left my wife, other than to say she was really toxic. I tried for two years to make it work, for the sake of my son and hoping that the woman I feel in love with would eventually come back.

I tired absolutely everything, I gave everything I had until I ran empty and after two years of manipulative abuse I realized that the woman I fell in love with was a mask lure me in.

she was literally driving me insane, gaslighting and twisting everything. I was at rock bottom, I was constantly on edge at home because I didn't know what was going to set her off. The criticism was constant.

The tipping point for me was that my son was seeing me being hollowed out from inside.

Nothing could be worse than living like this. I told her I was done with this marriage.

I ended up moving out and scraping enough money to rent a small apartment close by. The apartment wasn't furnished, except for a old bed I brought with me that was in the spare room.

I started with 2 plates, two forks, two knives and a handful of toys for my son. She took everything else.

For the first month, me and my son (2 years old) eat on the floor because we didn't have a table. We would play picnic.

Things were tough, paying for rent and paying for a big house and barely having enough for food each month.

I was in survival mode, I had to hold it together for the sake of my son. I'm from the UK but live in Norway, so I really am alone.

Slowly though, each month I would manage to improve my situation. I bought stuff on sale, slowly buying the essentials.

The house sold for a good price, she took the majority of the money and I let her. I earn good money and I was just glad to out from under the dept.

It's been about six months now. I have everything I need now, in fact with the money I did get from selling the old house I could afford the down payment on a New apartment.

I called my mum just the other day and out of nowhere broke down crying. I guess it was at that moment it all hit me.

It's the hardest thing I've ever had to go through, especially with a young son. I've had to be strong for him.

The silver lining is that, despite the years of trying to break me down, this experience has made me stronger beyond what I could have imagine d, and this has given me a lot of confidence back.

I'm moving beyond survival towards thriving, and the biggest lesson in all of this is " Nothing is more valuable than your PEACE!"

It's going to take years probably to really process and recover fully from this ordeal, but I can tell you from my own experience being alone is absolutely bliss.

My mind is a lot more clearer, I'm enjoying work again. My son is getting the best version of me.

The point of this post is to say, if you are going through the early stages, its rough. However, I promise you, you too will rise stronger and move from surviving to thriving.

We are men, no one is coming to save us. I think that's what makes us all bound in brotherhood. We are the ones who do the saving. You aren't alone.