Month: February 2026

Text image of Winston Churchill quote: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last,” representing appeasement, coercive control, trauma bonding, and survival in toxic family systems and emotionally abusive relationships.

Healing From Narcissistic Family Systems

February 20, 2026 No Comments

I’ve been reflecting on how, in my family—and unironically, in the family of the man I had children with—belonging was not rooted in mutual care,

James Baldwin quote about facing truth overlaid on a minimalist image symbolizing emotional clarity, reflection, and the cost of acknowledgment.

The Limits of One-Sided Repair

February 19, 2026 No Comments

Letting Go Each day, I live with the ache that I may not see my children again. We may not have another real conversation or

Goat standing alone on a cliff symbolizing family scapegoating and avoidance of responsibility

The War They Wanted: A Story of Estrangement

February 8, 2026 No Comments

My sons learned, by design, to have zero tolerance for their mother. Ordinary acts of parenting—direction, correction, consequences, even simple questions—were rejected and reframed as

Minimalist graphic displaying the Set Aside Prayer about letting go of assumptions to allow openness, healing, and alignment

The Logic of Familiarity

February 7, 2026 No Comments

Looking back, I notice how often I gravitated toward people who couldn’t tolerate my pain but expected the world to organize itself around their pleasure.