There was a time when dark stories unsettled me.
Not because they were graphic, but because they mirrored things I didn’t yet have distance from. Power, control, obsession — all of it landed too close to the body.
That closeness has changed.
Now, when I read darker narratives, I don’t feel pulled under. I feel steady. I can observe what’s happening without internalizing it. I can acknowledge the tension without mistaking it for threat.
Healing didn’t remove my interest in darkness.
It taught me how to stand beside it without being swallowed.
Reading Trauma Mama: Velvet & Taboo 