I still become defensive too quickly

Dear Delyara, Certain conversations with my parents still make me react faster than I want to. Not because I’m immature. Because history lives under the conversation too. A question can sound like judgment before I have time to hear it neutrally. A suggestion can feel like criticism. A practical comment can touch some older place where I still feel misunderstood, unseen, or not trusted as fully adult in my own life. I hate how quick that old defensiveness is. But I also know where it came from.