If you have loved an avoidant deeply, you already know this truth. No amount of explaining, patience, reassurance, or self abandonment will make them look inward. The harder you try, the more they retreat.

How to Forgive and Let Go of a Dismissive Avoidant Who Hurt You

Healing After Loving a Dismissive Avoidant What is there left to say after you’ve healed from a relationship with a dismissive-avoidant partner—after you finally realize that they were more unhealed than you? Honestly, not much. The pain they cause is indescribable. I carried it with me for decades after mine. For so long, I thought he was independent, strong, untouchable. But the truth was, he wasn’t running from me—he was running from his wounds. He loved me, but he didn’

It’s not the kind of safety that comes from genuine closeness and vulnerability. It’s the safety of distance. Of control. Of keeping people at arm’s length behind emotional walls so thick that not even they can fully access what’s inside.