Fractal Mode

From the Author's Note to the novel Fractal Mode, by Piers Anthony:

One thing those of you who had happy or secure childhoods should understand about those of us who did not: We who control our feelings, who avoid conflicts at all costs or seem to seek them, who are hypersensitive, self-critical, compulsive, workaholic, and above all, survivors--we are not that way from perversity, and we cannot just relax and let it go. We have learned to cope in ways you never had to.

I stumbled upon this a dozen years ago, and unfortunately, it is as true for me today as it was then. Hopefully though, hopefully, it will not always be so.