Blackmail or Betrayal It’s always good practice to do as your mother says. You’ve been told about how to behave and how to act for as long as you can remember. You’ve been shown which way to take your clothes off and you’ve been taught how to put them on the right way around too. You’ve been shown where to find the bathroom and where the TV is and what’s on at 5.00pm when you get back from school. You’ve been taught to make your bed and to clean your teeth, and you’ve been given instructions as to how to cut your food, which hand to use, when to leave the table and all the little rituals that make up a normal life. Now you’re at college and your mother isn’t quite so sure about what you should be doing. You ask her if she’s going to come and visit or phone and you get a vague reply which you read as meaning that she’s probably going to think twice before bothering. She’s obviously concerned about how you’re going to cope on your own and she doesn’t want to put you in any more danger than she has to. She probably thinks that it’s safer not to interfere too much as you’ve been having a few problems lately. In fact, the last thing she needs is to become an embarrassment to herself and you know that she can’t afford to let anyone find out how much the rent was, the fact that you moved, or that you went through the money so fast and that your bank balance was almost empty. Let’s face it, if you end up on the internet again, you’ll probably go straight back to selling your body and it might even be hard to get rid of you this time. They may not be able to prove anything after all and if they do manage to find you, you may be the only one to take the blame. She is only trying to help, but she doesn’t have all the information and doesn’t know how long you’ve been taking the medication for, but doesn’t want to ask. You’re embarrassed about the whole thing and don’t want anyone to know what you’ve been up to for too long. Don’t let the worry get you down because once you’re back at home you’re going to have to think of a plan to get it all back under control. It will be easier if you can learn how to behave in a proper manner again without becoming a model student. You’ll be able to get a job and perhaps finish your degree and you’ll be able to lead a normal life without the pressure of having to be clever all the time. If you do get into trouble in any way, you know that your mother will be there for you when she gets the chance. You’ll be looking after her as she looks after you. She’ll be there when you get the money together and you don’t want to worry her any more than you have already. You have a lot of catching up to do if you want to start again. How to avoid being blackmailed It’s just a matter of staying in control and making sure that you know where everything is going and that you can trust the people around you. You might want to think about what you’re doing at all times and stay in control as much as possible but don’t take it too seriously because after all, no one needs to know about your mistakes or your good times. It’s not always easy to be sensible when you’ve been living the way you have been. Make sure that you’re always safe by knowing your way around the home and being aware of the people that you’re dealing with. If you don’t want anything to do with anyone that you don’t trust, then don’t let anyone come near you. It may feel as though you are missing out on something but there are much better ways of having a good time than by doing something you might regret later on. You might not even end up enjoying yourself. Just remember that you’re still making your own choices even though they’re the result of your own decisions. You know that it’s only a matter of time before you’re all right again, but this time you should try to concentrate on what you’re doing at the moment because if you get in too deep it’s going to be difficult to get out. It might be hard at the moment, but you’ll probably find that your life changes a lot sooner than you’ve been expecting. In the end, you may find that you’re better off with a proper job that you don’t have to work for and all that you can do is go home and relax. The sooner you give up the better off you’ll be because the more you can relax and enjoy yourself the sooner you can feel your life coming back to you again. How to stop being blackmailed It might be hard to stop doing something that might be illegal, but before long there are a lot of things that you’ll be able to be proud of doing in order to have an exciting time. So long as you’re not doing something that is likely to land you in trouble, you might just be able to carry on with what you are doing without anyone ever knowing about it. They might keep you locked up for a while and they may even give you a few tests or checks, but if you know what you’re doing, you should be able to talk your way out of it. There’s nothing like a bit of flirtatious action and a few of the tricks that you’ve learned from your old life to distract people. Then, once they’ve settled down again you can go back to your normal life without a care in the world. You can avoid having to spend your time worrying about what might happen to you and you’ll find that you have a lot more time to spend on something else that you’ve always wanted to try. You might just find that you’re not able to live up to their expectations and don’t think that you’re ever going to be able to reach their standards. If you’re worried about how you might be regarded, you might want to get some advice from someone that knows what they’re talking about. It might be hard to find someone that knows how to help you, but the process can be quite interesting. Someone might want you to do something and you might think about it, but they might not be able to accept it when you’ve finally settled down and decided to try something else that will really get you started again. You might even find that they take advantage of your knowledge about things and don’t give you credit for the work that you’ve done. When you’re dealing with this type of situation, you’ll want to stay safe because it’s difficult to know when people will change their minds about what they want to do. Some people have already given up on what they thought was going to be the case and you might find that you’re no longer worth a lot of their time. You may find that they get bored easily and want someone else to have your life for a change. You know that your life is in danger and that you have to be careful if you want to stay out of trouble, but it’s always useful to keep someone who knows what they’re talking about on side. Sometimes things are more complicated than they seem and you might want to use all the tools that you have to get you through this situation. How to avoid being caught out by a scam Sometimes it’s hard to know if it’s better to be lucky than it is to be good. It’s easy to think that you’re going to have more luck when it comes to knowing how to get out of trouble, but you might find that you really don’t have the necessary skills to deal with the situation at all. You might feel like you’re stuck, but if you just sit back and think about your options, you might find that you’re going to be a lot better off at the end of it all. You might find that if you keep looking you’re going to be able to find a way to manage things. You might have been caught before but there are some ways that you might be able to get out of the situation. Perhaps your best option is to put all your energy into something else. If you’re thinking about how it is all going to work out, you should be able to use this time as an opportunity to reflect on what you’ve been doing. You might find that there are a lot of things that you should be able to deal with better than you have been up until now