Childhood Wounds Don’t Fade, They Resurface

We like to believe that wounds fade with time. That if we just keep moving forward, what hurt us in the past will stay behind us. But the truth is, wounds don’t disappear simply because we age. They live inside us — tucked deep into the body, the mind, the soul.

Think of it like a terrarium. A sealed glass ecosystem that grows from within. Once a wound is placed inside, it doesn’t vanish. It breathes with us. It shapes the air we carry. And depending on how we tend to it, it can either support life or make everything inside feel stifled.

A childhood wound, especially, is not just a memory. It’s a pattern that threads itself into our nervous system. It’s in the way our body tenses before we even realize why. It’s in the way we pull back when someone gets too close, or the way we overextend to keep someone from leaving. These reflexes aren’t random. They are echoes of the wound — the ecosystem still growing within.

But here’s what’s important: a wound doesn’t mean you’re broken. It isn’t proof that you’re failing. It’s simply a place in need of care. Left alone, it keeps shaping us from the inside out. But when it’s tended to — gently, patiently — the whole system begins to shift.

What once felt like a fragile spot can become fertile ground. The same place that held pain can hold growth. And what grows inside of us always finds its way outward — into our choices, our relationships, our lives.

So if you notice yourself repeating patterns you can’t explain, or reacting in ways that don’t match the moment, it might not be about now. It might be about a wound that’s been waiting, sealed inside your terrarium, asking for light, air, and care.

And that’s the invitation: not to erase the wound, but to tend to it. To create an ecosystem inside you where healing has a chance to grow.

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