“Because of course you think you’re going to turn and you’re afraid. But in reality, the actual pain of getting injured . . . wakes you up, I suppose. You don’t change, that’s clear. Maybe the narrative can’t work properly at a biological level. You see your legs have been ripped up by teeth, but your pain receptors are telling you something else. The friction between the real and the perceived becomes . . . tiresome, ill-fitting. The narrative feels trivial. So, it’s self-preservation that makes you refocus, so you can deal with your own injuries.
