Liberthea Anadara on Nostr: I want to tell you a tiny story about how a hook can be formed long before you even ...

I want to tell you a tiny story about how a hook can be formed long before you even know what's happening.

When I was 6 months old, a woman who was supposed to be my mother took me walking around in the freezing Michigan cold. I was almost frozen to death.

When they finally got me back, my grandpa couldn't even pick me up. He told a cop not to touch me. I was hurting so bad that human touch was agonizing.

I don't tell this for pity. I tell it because of the hook. 🪝

That moment—before I could even speak or form a conscious thought—installed a belief in my nervous system. The hook was: Touch equals pain. People hurt you. I have to survive alone.

That hook is why I am so fiercely independent. It’s why I learned to forage and survive on my own. It’s why it took me decades to let my guard down.

No trauma bonding here, peeps. 😂 Just a moment of recognizing that things like this happen. They form a hook, a core belief in us, before we even know what's happening.

But once you see the hook, you can name it. And once you name it, you can take it out.

I am still here. And I am still walking.