Ethos ✧ 22 ✧ he/him ✧ ISTJ

clementinemorrigan:

You know when people say “It doesn’t hurt to ask” or “It doesn’t hurt to try”… I think what they don’t understand is that for many of us it DOES hurt, a lot. For me, in childhood, I learned that asking and trying could indeed be dangerous and that it was safer to wish, hope, pray, act out, hide, avoid… and all sorts of behaviours that are now embedded in my neurological pathways. I am slowly unlearning this but I want to name and validate that for many of us “trying” and “asking” bring up terror. Even over simple things.