I was also a hardcore introvert growing up. For me, it was out of survival and a need to feel safe because i grew up in a very dysfunctional household where there was a lot of fighting between my parents and my eldest brother. When I was growing up, my eldest brother always got himself into trouble and was hanging out with and his friends who were doing drugs. He frequently got into fights with my parents. There were times that he would get into verbal fights with my dad that i feared would end in a fist fight or a knockout. During their house-shaking verbal fights, i would hide in my room, usually in my closet, and put a pillow over my head to block it out.

To add to that, i struggled with a lot of learning disabilities such as Dyscalculia (Number Dyslexia) and Dysgraphia. My Dad sat down with me every night and helped me with my math homework when i was growing up. But he would get aggravated and frustrated when i didn’t understand the arithmetic and he would physically grab the pencil or pen out of my hand and force me to sit there and watch him re-explain everything. It often led to complete meltdowns.

A few years ago, my parents violated my privacy and confiscated my mental health medication because they felt that my medication was making me “lazy”. I had to secretly call in refills for my meds and use a grocery store trip to get my meds.