How Emotional Abuse Shrinks You — And How You Begin to Expand Again

Emotional abuse is subtle — not because survivors missed it,
but because abusers designed it that way.

The tactic is simple:

➡️ Shrink your confidence
➡️ Doubt becomes obedience
➡️ You stay small so they can stay large

Over time you:

• Ask permission instead of sharing

• Overthink small decisions

• Explain or justify your emotions

• Lose your spontaneous, playful, intuitive self

But here is truth:

Your true self is not destroyed — she is covered.

Healing involves excavation, not creation.

Three paths back to yourself:

Name the pattern, not the moments
Stop analyzing each incident; start recognizing the dynamic.

1. Rebuild trust with your inner voice
   Every time you say, “I know what I felt,” you recover ground.

2. Detach from the need to be believed
   Validation is internal, not negotiated.

Your expansion begins the moment you stop debating your truth and start inhabiting it.

xo, Denalee