Mick Hunt

At 10 years old, I couldn't define my father as a narcissist because I didn't know what that meant at 10 years old.

But I knew his ego that if I stayed...

he would be okay, right?

He didn't want to be alone.

So I said to my mom, take my sister and you both just leave.

And my mom looked at me and she said, no, I'm not going to leave you.

And I said, mom, I can handle it.

I can do it.

And she said, no, because I love you, I wouldn't feel right if you were going through what I go through.

And Alana, I got angry.

I got angry because I felt like I was giving my mom a path to be happy, to escape.

And she said no.

And so that moment I grew up, I was no longer a 10-year-old doing what 10-year-olds did.

I started to understand what today we would call emotional intelligence in not just myself, but in others.

So I got to understand what would trigger my father so that instead of him

welling off on my mom just hit me, right?

Instead of him finding a way to mentally embarrass or punish or psychologically embarrass or punish my mom, just do it to me because when I know it's happening, I'm prepared for it, right?

It's a game to me.

And so at 10, that just became who I was.

And so I still was a 10-year-old, don't get me wrong.