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This Week’s Parasite: The Flashback Flea
You know when you’re having a perfectly normal day…
You’re productive.
You feel grounded.
You’re even kind of proud of yourself.
And then, out of nowhere, your brain pulls up an old memory with zero context:
A breakup.
A mistake.
A shame spiral.
A moment that hurt you years ago.
You weren’t thinking about it.
You didn’t even want to remember it.
But suddenly it’s like the past is playing on a projector in your mind.
That’s this week’s parasite:
The Flashback Flea
It burrows into old pain and replays it to keep you emotionally stuck.
Its favorite trick is making you believe the past is “coming back.”
It’s not.
The parasite is resurfacing it so you stay small.
How This Parasite Hooks In
It appears when you’re actually moving forward:
You’re healing
You’re becoming more stable
You’re getting better at choosing yourself
You’re feeling confident
You’re stepping into a new identity
Right when you’re rising, the Flea whispers:
“Don’t forget who hurt you.”
“Remember what went wrong last time.”
“Stay guarded.”
“Don’t trust the change.”
Its job is to recycle your past until you believe you haven’t grown at all.
Symptoms of Infection
Random intrusive memories
Emotion that doesn’t match the current moment
Feeling guilty or ashamed without a trigger
Thinking about people who no longer matter
Feeling like “something is wrong” when nothing is wrong
The Flea wants you living in yesterday so you never fully step into today.
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Why It Shows Up
Because your system is shedding an old identity.
Your expansion threatens the parts of you that survived by staying small.
Growth can feel unsafe, not because it’s dangerous, but because it’s unfamiliar.
The Flashback Flea feeds on emotional regression.
It starves when you anchor into who you’re becoming, not who you’ve been.
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The Antidote: Present-Tagging
When an old memory pops up, say this in your mind:
“This is a memory, not a message.”
Then immediately do one grounding action:
Touch your chest
Look around the room
Say the date
Breathe intentionally once
You’re reminding your system:
I’m not there anymore.
Parasites can’t survive in the present.
Reflection of the Week
Which memories drag you back the fastest?
And what part of you no longer identifies with that version of you?
—Gabi & Bea