02/22/2024
Jamie, 27, tends to fall hard and quick. When she gets those butterflies in her stomach— she goes for it. And it’s ended her in a pattern of relationship with controlling, domineering, and rigid men.
Her father was the same way. Tough with a “my way or the highway” mentality he lacked communication skills and emotional awareness. Jamie’s mother regularly fawned. She rarely spoke up because she knew he would make her life miserable. Jamie loves and admires her father but she also fears him. To her: love and fear co-exist.
When she meets a man with similar traits, her body remembers. The butterflies she feels is actually adrenaline in her body— but she’s never been taught how to interpret cues from her body. She’s been taught the opposite: to disconnect from them. It’s why she misses many red flags in order to be loved.
With healing, Jamie slowly is becoming aware of her childhood conditioning. Her therapist is helping her tune into the cues from her body and understand that her immediate attraction can actually be her body’s fear response. She’s slowly being more open to meeting men who don’t “excite” her in order to find the stability she’s always wanted but never got to experience