08/23/2026
Your body isn't overreacting. It's under-informed.
His name shows up on your screen and your heart takes off like something's coming through the door. That's not you being dramatic, it's a normal response to a threat system that hasn't been updated yet. It learned during the marriage that his voice meant brace yourself, and it's still running that program.
The good news is it's a program, which means it can be rewritten. Slower breath, feet on the floor, hand on your chest, in this moment I'm safe, over and over until your body believes it before your brain has to argue for it.
That's when the texts stop running your whole afternoon.