Shannon puts ‘toxic’ relationship on record
THIS time last year, Shannon Mitchell’s friends and family barely recognised her anymore.
Her ‘toxic’ relationship had driven her to such a bad place that she was on the brink of taking her own life.
The 19-year-old, from New Moston, had moved in with her boyfriend shortly after they began dating. After a month of living together, she claims his jealousy and nasty comments overshadowed their relationship.
By their first anniversary, Shannon had been cut off from the people she loved, and her once caring partner became both ‘physically and emotionally abusive’ towards her.
Battling an eating disorder and anxiety, the young woman tried to end her own life – even writing a note to her friends and family.
She fortunately survived the attempt, which finally spurred her to end her relationship and move on with her life.
The journey from then has been fraught with pain and trauma, but Shannon says the day she decided to leave was the day her life changed for the better.
Now she’s written a song about her own experience named ‘Prayed for Peace’ in the hope to empower other people in abusive relationships and give them the strength to leave. Since releasing the song, Shannon says she’s been contacted by many people who’ve told her the lyrics saved their life.
She said: “I was in a toxic and abusive relationship for a year-and-a-half. When you are not in that situation it is very easy to judge but when you are in one it’s really hard to leave and I don’t think many people realise that.
“The main reason I wrote the song was to let people know it’s okay. I was in a really bad place after mine and it has really helped me. I just want to help people and let them know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Shannon has always found happiness in singing, and had planned to write an upbeat song to reflect her recovery. But when she and her mum started talking, emotions she had buried deep within her for so long started pouring out.
“That night I just wrote something in about five minutes and that’s the song,” she said.
“I want to sing about things people don’t really talk about. I wrote this song from a place of sadness but now I sing it from a place of strength. So many people have said the song has saved their life – and there’s no better feeling than that.”
● You can listen to Shannon’s song on Spotify.