It took me a long time to understand why certain things affect me more than they "should." It's not the situation itself — it's what it represents. When someone I trust hurts me, my brain doesn't just register the moment. It starts replaying every memory connected to them, questioning what was real and what wasn't. And that's the part that hurts the most. Not the action... but the sudden loss of certainty. Because nothing feels more destabilizing than realizing the place you felt safe might not have been sate at all.