My parrot has officially mastered the exact beep of the microwave and now I spend half my day walking into the kitchen looking for food that doesn't exist.
You crush the flower by hand, the smell of raw pine and fresh earth hits the air. You roll it smooth, step onto the back porch, and lit up a blunt .
In less than sixty seconds, the entire momentum of a chaotic day grinds to a peaceful time.
I received a text from an unknown number yesterday that said, "I know what you did last summer, and it is going to cost you everything." My blood ran cold as I started calculated how much money I had in my savings account to pay off this mysterious blackmailer. I replied asking for their terms, only to get a message back saying, "Sorry, wrong number, meant to text my brother who forgot to water the plants."
Untreated trauma WILL turn into dementia and autoimmune disease. The body keeps score. The emotions you suppressed, the stress you normalized, the pain you never processed, it all builds up in your nervous system. And over time, it starts to break you down.
My husband’s mother moved in with us “temporarily” after she lost her apartment.
That was three years ago.
At first, I tried to be understanding. She was grieving, stressed, and had nowhere else to go. I told my husband we should help her get back on her feet. I even cleared out my home office so she could have her own room.
But somewhere along the way, she stopped being a guest and started acting like the owner of the house.
She changed the way I cooked because she said my food was “too modern.” She threw away clothes she thought were inappropriate. She told our kids that I was too strict, then told me I was raising them wrong. She started opening my mail “by accident.” Once, she rearranged our bedroom while we were at work because she said the energy in it felt “unwelcoming.”
Every time I complained, my husband would say, “She’s old. Just ignore her.”
Then last week, I came home early and heard her telling my daughter, “Your mother only cares about herself. If she really loved this family, she wouldn’t complain about taking care of me.”
My daughter is nine.
That night, I told my husband his mother needed to leave within 30 days.
He looked at me like I had slapped him.
He said I was trying to throw his mother onto the street. I told him she had a pension, two adult daughters, and enough savings to rent a small place. He said none of that mattered because “family takes care of family.”
I said, “Exactly. So why am I the only one expected to sacrifice?”
He slept on the couch.
The next morning, my mother-in-law packed a bag, stood in the kitchen crying, and told the kids I was forcing her out because I hated her.
My husband still hasn’t spoken to me properly.
His sisters are calling me heartless.
But I keep thinking: if a woman has to choose between protecting her peace in her own home and being seen as a villain, why is she always expected to choose the second one?
Now add Autism into this. Autistic nervous systems already process the world more intensely.
sensory input hits harder.
emotions move faster.
regulation takes more energy. So when trauma repeats over time, it doesn’t just stack
it literally amplifies. people call us fragile but
it’s out neurology plus lived experience.
(Note: out neurology is likely a typo for our neurology.)