Blog Series: The Long Con - Speaking Out; Why Telling the Story Matters

Silence is the con artist’s best friend. Lies thrive in the dark, hidden behind closed doors, whispered through manipulation, and buried under shame. For years, I carried the weight of someone else’s secrets, believing my silence was protection. But silence wasn’t protection; it was imprisonment.

Writing The Long Con: A 12-Year Marriage Built on Lies was my refusal to stay quiet. Speaking out became my way of breaking chains, not just for myself but for others who felt trapped in similar stories.

Breaking the Shame

The hardest part about betrayal isn’t the lie; it’s the shame it leaves behind. Shame says: You should have known better. You should have left sooner. You shouldn’t tell anyone.

But here’s the truth: shame doesn’t belong to the betrayed, it belongs to the betrayer. The moment I began speaking my story out loud, the shame started losing its grip. What once felt heavy became lighter with every word.

The Ripple Effect of Truth

When I first shared pieces of my story, I didn’t expect the flood of messages from women saying, “That’s me. I thought I was alone.”

Speaking out creates community. It reminds others that they’re not crazy, not weak, not alone. Every testimony adds another crack in the wall of silence that abusers and manipulators rely on.

Storytelling as Resistance

Silence maintains systems of control. Storytelling disrupts them. Every page of The Long Con was an act of resistance, a refusal to let lies win. Speaking out wasn’t just about me; it was about reclaiming power for every woman who has been gaslit, manipulated, or silenced.

The Healing in Words

Writing this book wasn’t easy. Reliving betrayal never is. But telling my story turned pain into purpose. Each chapter I finished was another layer of healing. Each conversation it sparked was another proof that my survival wasn’t in vain.

Speaking out didn’t erase the scars, but it transformed them into testimony. And testimony has the power to free not just the storyteller, but the listener, too.

The Lesson

There’s power in speaking out, not because it changes the past, but because it shapes the future. Lies may try to silence you, but truth has a voice that echoes long after betrayal.

I didn’t write The Long Con to rehash pain. I wrote it because silence was too expensive, and truth was the only freedom I could afford. Speaking out isn’t just about telling what happened; it’s about reclaiming who I am, and reminding others they can reclaim themselves, too.

What story are you ready to tell? Even if you whisper it to yourself today, that’s the first step toward breaking the silence tomorrow.

Purchase the Long Con: https://books.by/prose-nd-ink-publishing

✍🏾 Published by pRose &nd Ink | Written by Dr. Tonya Johnson

With love and fire,
Ms. Bina
The Renaissance Woman the Algorithm Warned You About