There are rooms where my body becomes more obedient than free

Dear Delyara, That is what I notice first. I get quieter, smaller, more careful, more responsive to mood than to my own truth. It can happen fast, and often in rooms that no one else would describe as dangerous. But the body doesn’t always care what the room looks like from the outside. It cares what it recognizes. And sometimes what it recognizes is old enough to pull me out of freedom before I’ve even finished saying hello. That’s the part of trauma people don’t always understand. How quiet its effects can look while feeling enormous inside.