Leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses: What Happens to Your Nervous System After You Go

I was fifteen, sitting at the park with friends, when I understood, all at once, that my queerness would eventually cost me everyone at that park and more. What I didn't have words for then is what I've spent years understanding: this is exactly what happens to the nervous system when it encounters a threat too large to respond to openly. And it holds that weight for a very long time.