My SO is no longer abusive; I feel like I'm scarred

Tl;dr: I can't relax even though my formerly toxic relationship is now healthy

I (28M) have been with my partner (27F) for 3 years. My partner was verbally, emotionally and physically abusive for the first two years and eventually decided she wanted to change and not lose me. She has changed, she's pretty much a different person and is treating me much better and catching herself when the toxic behaviors try to surface.

Here's the problem: I am constantly having memories of the bad times. It feels like I'm constantly on high alert for the switch to flip and everything to go bad again. I only experience flashbacks in very specific scenarios; the rest of the time, I just can't relax.

Does this stop? Will time heal?

Submitted May 26, 2020 at 03:40PM by throwaway4rltnshp https://ift.tt/3d626Zn