It took seeing adult bullies to understand that my childhood bullies didn’t even really want to hurt me, they just wanted to feel powerful and how I felt about it wasn’t even in the equation.

I can’t imagine someone not outgrowing that, but apparently it happens quite a lot!

“In the sunset of dissolution, everything is illuminated by the aura of nostalgia, even the guillotine.”
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being