your abusive father controlled his temper around coworkers, neighbors, friends, church members, cashiers, & strangers.
then he brought the rage home to people with less power to leave.
that was a choice he kept making.
I don’t want my daughter to be like me. I want her to speak up sooner. Walk away faster. Trust herself deeper. Apologize less. Take up more space. Ask bigger questions. Dream louder. And if that means she becomes everything I wasnt… GOOD!
You should study what makes you defensive. The topic you avoid, the joke that irritates you, the question that feels insulting, the feedback you instantly reject. Defensiveness is usually the guard dog sitting in front of a weakness you have not trained yourself to face.
Some people in your life have never seen you at your full capacity. They met you in a hard season, a transitional moment, a version of you still being built. Do not let their limited experience of you become your ceiling. You are more than the chapter they witnessed.