All writing

You trace a line from your own hypervigilance in 2014—overwhelmed by apartment noise you couldn't control—to Susan Lorincz, who killed her neighbor, recognizing in her the same unregulated nervous system and trauma response that has leaked into your relationships and work. You grapple with the realization that your wound is real and your pain is justified, but the way it spills onto others is something you alone must contain and heal, and that the distinction between being broken and being wounded matters profoundly.

You're reflecting on a 2013 visit to your grandmother in a masonic home, where you witnessed multiple generations of women—your grandmother, mother, aunt Sheila, and Aunt Judy—each coping with trauma and unmet needs in different ways. You were living in an extended-stay hotel at the time, unable to commit to a permanent address, and you began to see the commonality between yourself and other guests: you were all trying to survive difficult circumstances with whatever resilience remained.