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This Is Why It’s So Dangerous To Confuse Maladaptive Behavior With Your Actual Personality
You are not what you had to do in order to survive.
By January Nelson
You are not what you had to do in order to survive.
You are not what you had to become in order to handle the unfair circumstances you found yourself in.
You are not the person you turned into when life turned against you.
Your maladaptive behaviors and your actual personality are not the same thing — and differentiating the two is essential to healing.
When we’re consistently faced with adversity, we either struggle or adapt.
Typically, we struggle until we figure out how to adapt, and then we move on in one way or another.
Sometimes, those adaptations are healthy.
Sometimes, we learn what we will and won’t tolerate; we get better at managing the intricacies of our lives; we improve at things like money, or love, or dating.
Sometimes, we turn what should have been our darkest night into an awakening. We go through a process of positive disintegration where our identities are called into question, dissected, and new, more powerful and authentic selves emerge in…
