01/09/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/184igPN5zS/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Distance does not appear out of nowhere, it is taught over time.
You do not get to starve a child of love for decades and then demand closeness when they grow up. Love withheld leaves marks. Silence becomes language. Absence becomes normal. A child learns early what not to expect, and that lesson does not disappear with age.
You raised distance through neglect, emotional absence, and unmet needs. You taught them to self soothe, to stay quiet, to stop reaching. You taught them not to rely on you. That was not rebellion. That was survival.
Now, as an adult, they are not cold. They are conditioned. They are protecting themselves the way they always had to. You cannot demand intimacy from someone you never made feel safe enough to need you.
This is not punishment. It is consequence. You raised distance. Now sit with it. Healing may still be possible, but entitlement to closeness is not. Love must be given to be returned.