Men's Group

He would go out of his way to tell me (and to be fair pretty much everybody else) that they were worthless and less intelligent than he was. He was also just a condescending ass toward the people in his life (I've never met anybody else who would call their wife an albatross).

The physical was mostly just randomly smacking me, although there was the time he made me bike about a mile after a dog ripped the back of my knee open on the excuse doing otherwise would scare the owner of the dog that had attacked me.

As for how it affected me, I think it has cost me the opportunity to have any real deep relationships. I often can't imagine why a potential friend or significant other who I am interested in would be interested in me, and I struggle to actually let myself trust the ones who are willing to try to get past my outer walls.

But I figure it's better that way. If I don't let them in, then I can't repeat the cycle. My dad was treated the same way he treated me. It's better that I don't risk hurting others they way I've been hurt. It's the biggest reason I know I should never be a parent. It would be awful enough to do it to an adult who can tell me to fuck off, but doing it to a kid would rip my guts out.