11/17/2025
Why avoidants pull back ↓
✨ Avoidant attachment often develops when a child’s bids for connection are met with misattunement, engulfment, or emotional strain. When a caregiver’s emotions leave little room for the child’s inner world, the child adapts by retreating inward.
To the child, distance became oxygen. Autonomy became safety.
✨ As adults, this can look like pulling away when emotions rise, immersing themselves in work or hobbies, keeping conversations safely superficial, or shutting down the moment connection starts to deepen.
These patterns don’t come from a lack of desire for intimacy. They come from a body that remembers the feeling of being emotionally swallowed.
✨ Healing takes shape through space that isn’t punished, curiosity that feels soft instead of intrusive, and connection that unfolds slowly enough for their nervous system to settle.
Even small bids for connection matter. They signal that their inner world is beginning to feel safe enough to open.
If this speaks to you (as someone with an avoidant attachment or a partner of one), what part of closeness feels challenging or charged right now?
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