Sublime

To grow up at all is to conceal the mass of internal scar tissue that throbs in our dreams.

This dysfunction is represented by the four branches of the trauma tree: (1) addiction, not only to vices such as drugs, alcohol, and gambling, but also to socially acceptable things such as work, exercise, and perfectionism (check); (2) codependency, or excessive psychological reliance on another person; (3) habituated survival strategies, such as

I was also relearning the very painful lesson that full healing never really comes. I wanted healing to mean that I would go back to being who I was before I was abused—like it hadn’t happened. But the scars from Larry’s abuse were visible to the whole world. They would never not be part of my public identity now.