Katherine Kane
2 min readAug 25, 2021

I don't have time to read the other replies, to see if I'm piling onto the same responses, but here's my take.

If you have the energy to deal with this, don't delete it. You and I are alike enough, in our commitment to addressing these kinds of wrongs, that I can imagine the guilt you'll feel over that choice. I'm not saying you have a responsibility to fight them, I'm saying you feel that responsibility, and you'll still feel it even if you "give up."

That said, if you decide you don't have the energy, take it down and try hard not to feel guilty. Tell yourself that self-care is essential right now, not just to your well-being but to your being able to take care of your daughter too. It's like when they tell us that if we don't take care of our mental health it's going to screw up our physical health - the worse you feel the harder it will be to take care of her properly. Anyone and everyone will understand that she must be your first priority, which means getting your health issues under control is also a primary priority.

Consider looking at some books/videos by a clinical researcher named Brene Brown - I'm listening to the audio of "The Power of Vulnerability" right now and it's kicking my ass. She has done extensive research on guilt and shame, and it's impact on depression/anxiety. And given how much I've learned from 1 book and a couple of vids - on advice from the first therapist to make a dent in years - I can only imagine how much you'll get out of her stuff. Your history with your mother alone has got to be feeding shame gremlins.

I hope you decide you have the energy to fight this, because I know how that will make you feel, continuing to stand against them. You might also benefit from reaching out to some cult-focused legal experts.

But please trust yourself enough to walk away if you need to. You are worthy of taking care of too.

Katherine Kane

It all fits together. Linguistically driven, writing since pre-K, aphantasiac, student older than my profs. mobility challenged, Comp. Sex-Ed advocate.