You’re not stuck.
You’re loyal.
Loyal to the voice that broke you.
Loyal to the version of you that was always on edge.
Loyal to the pattern that felt like love
because pain was the first place you were seen.
You keep choosing what hurt you
because it’s what shaped you.
You confuse survival
with personality.
You mistake trauma
for identity.
And now?
You defend your damage
like it’s a badge.
Like letting it go would erase who you had to become to carry it.
That’s not healing.
That’s hostage logic.
You’re not protecting your inner child.
You’re dragging them through the same battlefield
because it’s the only place you felt powerful.
You call it “just how I am.”
You call it “realism.”
You call it “not needing anyone.”
But it’s not empowerment.
It’s emotional Stockholm syndrome.
You’re in love with your captor
because they kept you alive
when no one else did.
But staying loyal to pain
just because it built you
is how you die
without ever living outside it.
You don’t owe pain your loyalty.
You owe yourself freedom.
