Either from abusive parents, toxic relationships, short or long term bullying or any other kind of traumatic past that gave you some survival reflexes that are not longer relevant but are hard for you to get rid of.

  • 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍@lemmy.world
    111·
    3 hours ago

    I’m a queer person raised in the US but now living in a saner country. I’m slowly realizing how much living in the US has traumatized me.

    • Whenever I go to a large gathering I instinctually look for the exits and try to stay near them.
    • Still scared to go to the doctor.
    • Minor one, there’s a lot of apartment buildings around me named “__ Arms”. In the US, I would expect anything with that name to be a huge gun store covered in white supremacist branding. I still side eye the sign whenever I pass by.
    • Expecting government offices to be heavily armed and require going through TSA levels of security. Turns out other countries aren’t police states that treat you like a criminal by default.
    • Same thing for small venues
    • Driving is its own ball of anxiety and trauma
    • Expecting anything with sugar to be sickly sweet. It’s no wonder why the US is so obese
    • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      7 minutes ago

      Expecting government offices to be heavily armed and require going through TSA levels of security. Turns out other countries aren’t police states that treat you like a criminal by default.

      lots do but not that openly

      edit: strikethrough for wrong quoting

      • 𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍@lemmy.world
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Oh for sure, but in the few cases I’ve gone into a routine govt office here it’s usually just a few guys at the front by reception.

        In the US, they X-ray everything and question me about my (fairly mundane) fidget spinner like I’m carrying around a WMD on my keychain. I have to empty my purse and take out anything that a schizophrenic might consider suspicious.