Are you startled easily or not?
I have been wondering if one of my weirder character traits is common in ACOA-land or not.
I do not startle easily, if at all. I have had car wrecks and steam pipe bursts occur within yards (meters) of me and I have never jumped, panicked, or run, while everyone else hits the ground. This sounds like a strong trait - Me Not Afraid (or something like that). No - dumb is more like it. In a few cases (like the car wreck that was heading straight toward me as I sat watching), it was actually quite dangerous.
I think it is just a habit of ignoring (denying, shutting out, turning the brain off) the completely unpredictable and explosive supernova-size outbursts of my A father and mother, followed by mornings of tense calm.