⚔️ What it means to have grown up with physical violence in your home
Growing up with physical violence meant your home never felt completely safe, and your nervous system learned to live in a constant state of alert, always scanning for the next potential threat.
You may have developed extraordinary threat assessment skills, becoming hypervigilant to subtle changes in tone, body language, and energy that could signal danger ahead. Violence or the threat of it hung in the air like smoke, teaching your body to remain perpetually ready for fight or flight. You might have learned to read a room instantly, sensing when situations could turn volatile in ways that others completely miss.
Your world may have been divided into stark categories—people were either safe or dangerous, powerful or powerless, with little middle ground in between. Physical closeness might still make you jumpy, even with people you trust, because your nervous system was programmed by chaos rather than security. You learned that the place that should have protected you was also where you faced the greatest danger, creating a complex relationship with home, safety, and the people who claim to love you.