Some of the strongest people you know aren’t strong because life was easy. They’re strong because, at some point, they learned they had to be.

Hyper-independence is often mistaken for strength. On the surface it looks attractive and desirable to someone who handles everything themselves, asks for nothing, and keeps moving forward no matter what. But hyper-independence isn’t just independence. It’s a learned way of surviving in a world where, at some point, relying on other people didn’t feel safe.

For many of us, it starts early. A difficult childhood teaches us how much space we’re allowed to take up in the world and whether someone will show up when we need them. I was a latchkey kid, the youngest of four girls. By the time I came along, my parents were, in many ways, already spent. The house wasn’t always peaceful, there was a lot of yelling/screaming, and my father’s extra-curricular activities left cracks in the foundation of our family that a kid can feel even if she doesn’t fully understand them yet. So I did what a lot of kids do in those environments: I learned to take care of myself. I played alone. I figured things out on my own. And like many children growing up in complicated homes, I learned some lessons about trust and safety far earlier than I should have. Maybe that is why people mistake my mistrust for hyper-independence/”being strong.”

When independence becomes the only way you know how to live, it follows you into adulthood. You become capable, resilient, and outwardly strong but relationships can feel complicated. Sometimes we choose solitude not because we truly want to be alone, but because being close to someone requires a level of vulnerability we never learned how to trust. Sometimes we sabotage good things without meaning to, pulling away just when connection begins to feel real. It isn’t because we’re broken. It’s because the part of us that learned to survive alone still thinks it’s protecting us. Is this something that we will ever be able to get over? Will we ever allow ourselves to welcome a new healthy relationship into our lives? 

If you recognize yourself in this, I want you to know something: you are not strange, and you are not alone. Many of us learned early that the safest place to stand was on our own two feet. That instinct kept us going when we needed it most. But it doesn’t mean we were meant to walk through life alone forever. Understanding where hyper-independence comes from is the first step toward loosening its grip toward letting people in, little by little, without feeling like we’re giving up our strength.

And if you’re someone who has built a life around doing everything yourself, who sometimes pushes people away even when your heart wants connection, I see you. Truly. There are more of us out here than you realize.