The Heart I Refused to Lose
There was a time in my life when I believed the best response to being hurt was to hurt back. I fought fire with fire. Not because I had a heart that wanted to destroy people. I wasn't trying to become evil. I was surviving the only way I knew how. When you're living in survival mode, this is what trauma can look like. It can look like a little girl raising herself while, on paper, it says someone else is raising her. It can look like becoming an adult long before you're ever given the chance to be a child. It can look like learning that your tears won't be comforted, so you stop crying. That your voice won't be heard, so you stop speaking. That your needs won't be met, so you convince yourself you don't have any. I don't remember anyone sitting me down and teaching me how to survive. Survival became something I learned by watching, adapting, and making decisions no child should ever have to make. There are things children should never have to carry—wond...
