Living in a toxic family is like walking on top of eggshells. You're always on your gaurd, placing your step cautiously, careful not the break the eggshell.
But the most dangerous thing about living in that situation is that you get used to the discomfort. You start thinking the eggshells are hard ground. You mold yourself into tolerating everything. You get used to holding your breath and feeling scared all the time. You convince yourself with denial such as, "this is not that bad", or "some people have it worse". Somewhere deep down, you tell yourself that you deserve the pain.
That's why jumping is the hardest, meaning getting away from that family. Jumping into hard ground is uncomfortable, a bit painful. You might roll around on the ground for quite some time before you're able to stand up, you'll find yourself stumbling as you struggle to find your balance. But once you do, and once you walk freely, run freely, you realise you'd been trapped all this while and you didn't even realize it. You inhale deeper, you smile longer, you laugh louder. And then you run, feeling the wind on your face.
















