Burning Ring of Fire

Well, what can I say. This is a first for me, but I am really looking forward to this. I have always wanted to just share my thoughts and feelings with random people... Who know's we all might have a lot in common. I want to start off by telling you all a little bit about myself. I am 27, in a wonderful and fresh relationship with a wonderful man named Glenn. I have been divorced and hopefully, I will never experience that again. Up until a few months ago, things were looking very bleak, but now I'm getting my life back on track and it feels great!
My ex-husband was a piece of work... A drunk, abusive, poor excuse of a man! I would be covered in bruises all the time, I wasn't allowed to be outgoing like I am, he literally took my life and my identity away from me. I feared for my life on a daily basis and it got to the point where I didn't even know who I was anymore. There were times where a knife was held to my throat... There were times I was picked up by my throat and carried across my apartment with him telling me he was going to kill me. I would be lying if I said that I hadn't thought of just putting myself out of my own misery. There were times I held that very knife to my wrists... Just looking for a way out. I thought that if I left, he would just find me and kill me himself. He threated my family all of the time which didn't help the situation at all. Looking back, I wish I never put that ring on my finger. It was a burning ring of fire. I was a prisoner in my own home... Not allowed to leave for more than an hour at a time... And even still I was getting phone calls every 20-30 min with him checking where I was and who I might be with.  To be 27 and divorced... not a warm fuzzy feeling.
One day, I finally had enough! He would always tell me that I wasn't good enough for anyone else, that no one could ever love me, and that I needed to change who I was as an individual. He was in a drunken rage, tossing me around like a slab of meat when I finally reached my breaking point. I stopped, took a deep breathe and said "If you can't love me for who I am, you just need to leave!" And with that, he left. At first that was a huge blow to my already non-existent ego, but I would soon feel a sigh of relief not long after that. (That was August of 2010) However, he wouldn't go down that easily and I would still have to deal with his harassment on a daily basis. He finally left Canada and went back to his home country (Poland) in December of 2010. Even with him over in Europe, I still feel uneasy from time to time. I know, that even though he is there, he's not gone yet. Over a 3 year period, I had slipped into a dark depression... Finding myself in a dark hole with no light to guide me out of it. One day, out of nowhere, my light appeared and I was well on my way to healing... Moving on... Finally at peace.