I can’t believe how much my life has changed in the last few years.
At that point, I was working full-time in a professional career and settling down to be married to the love of my life. Today, I am happily single and returning to school in an entirely new industry. If you’re wondering, I celebrate that separation every single day. When we were together things weren’t actually as wonderful as I thought. It took a lot of therapy for me to realize that. Namely, my ex was extremely controlling and abusive. He would emotionally manipulate me through strange means, including the heating and cooling system in our house. If that makes no sense, let me explain how an HVAC system can contribute to domestic abuse. Whenever my ex would become upset with me he was happy to leverage the indoor air quality against me. He had installed a smart thermostat in our house when we first moved in. At the time, I was excited that the smart thermostat would save us some money on our energy bills and HVAC wear and tear. I definitely didn’t appreciate paying high repair bills for the heating and cooling system when it inevitably broke down. I looked forward to monitoring our heating and cooling health through the smart thermostat. Instead, my ex used the air quality control device to control me. If he was upset with me he would lock the thermostat so I couldn’t make any HVAC adjustments. I would get trapped in the house with incredibly high temperatures and humidity while he went out and did whatever he wanted. Looking back, I don’t know how I put up with this sweaty situation for so long. But I love having control of my own HVAC system.