Sometimes that hollow feeling, those burn out moments, leave you feeling numb. Out of it. Is that a form of protection?

Is numbness a lack of vulnerability, or so much vulnerability that you’ve exhausted yourself?

I write real characters who’ve gone numb. The PTSD mindset shows itself, and you see them power through because stopping means breaking down. You also get the ones who deflect so it’s not easy to see how emotionally invested they are in the moment. They are the kind of unreliable narrator that’s human, but also capable of smiling while hurting. Telling you everything is fine, while their hands are busy doing something just to keep surviving in that mode. Others bleed the pain out through their pores and walk around numb to everything else.

I don’t think being numb is the opposite of vulnerability. Sometimes it’s what happens when you’ve been vulnerable too much. We don’t always put band-aids on paper cuts we trust to heal on their own. But if you put a big enough wound in your skin, you do something to stop the bleeding and protect yourself while you heal. Going emotionally numb is an internal healing process.

Which kind of numbness hits you harder? The character who’s shut down and immobilized completely, or the one still going through the motions and performing normalcy?