To the child you once were,
You were paying attention long before anyone told you that you were.
You learned quickly. You noticed tone. You adjusted to atmosphere. You observed what was reinforced and what was dismissed. You did not have the language for it, but you understood proportion.
You adapted because adaptation was intelligent.
Some of what you carried forward was useful. Some of it was protective beyond its season. Both deserve recognition without shame.
You were not weak for learning how to survive a system as it was.
You were observant.
You were disciplined in ways no one applauded.
If there are parts of you still scanning for instability, it is because they once had reason to. That does not make them broken. It makes them trained.
What you choose to reinforce now is no longer accidental.
You are not required to erase what you learned.
You are allowed to examine it.
That is not rebellion.
It is maturity.
—
K. Lynn Vox
K. Lynn Vox 