After prolonged exposure to harm, the nervous system remains on alert even when the threat is gone. This is not failure. This is momentum. For a long time, the body learned that danger could return at any moment. It does not shut that learning off overnight. Safety must be experienced repeatedly before the system believes it.

Survivors do not delay leaving because they are weak. They delay because leaving is complex and dangerous. When leaving finally becomes possible, it is because clarity—not impulse—has arrived.

The body is always calculating cost. How much energy does it take to be here? How much vigilance is required to stay safe? How long before pain appears? What happens afterward? When the cost of proximity consistently outweighs its benefit, the body begins to pull away.

A woman sits with her head in her hands, embodying the struggle of confronting self-betrayal when coping strategies turn detrimental.

For survivors, these conditions are not minor stressors. They mirror the dynamics under which harm occurred before. The nervous system does not wait for impact. It responds to pattern.

A person sits curled up alone, embodying vulnerability, as the text highlights the critical link between trauma, safety, and healing.

I have been drinking Calm Magnesium. It is not touching the emotional pain. That is because this is not a mineral deficiency. This is not stress mismanagement. This is not something that can be overridden by breathing harder or trying to be more resilient. Magnesium can support a nervous system after safety returns. It cannot convince the body it is safe while harm is still present.