Choosing your breath: the lies grief tell us

I resonate a lot with what Francesca wrote on this topic. I could not see past the grief or my own hurt for a long long time. Even if friends and family had good intentions, I kept most people at arms length for fear of being misunderstood, hurt or triggered. 

I can see now that I did push people away for a long time. It was a coping mechanism and it did feel necessary. 

The problem is that if you do that long enough -- some people will stop trying. Stop reaching out, stop inviting you to the things you turn down.

In that way I do regret turning inward. But  it took time to build myself up again and get to a point where I could be open and trusting and have the strength to do things that used to trigger me so much.