No one is asking anyone to walk on eggshells, just take responsibility for themselves. It is called boundaries. If you say to me, "you have scarred me for life" I will not have much faith in your self esteem or much respect for you and your ability to be a good partner to me. I want a partner who works to know and take responsibility for themselves and does not allow themselves to think another could scar them for life, much less actually have let them do something they perceive as scarring them for life. Love is working to be one's authentic self with another, not mere words and feelings. No one else can feel what we feel so my feeling I love you is pretty useless to anyone except me. My actions, my care of you and what I say to you, how I treat you and inform you about myself and the boundaries I set that show my self esteem and care I take of myself, showing I can effectively care for myself and thus, by extension, care for you too in a true partnership relationship is what love is to me.

My feelings of love is what keeps me with someone I love, I love that feeling. However, that does not negate my taking care of myself first, setting boundaries and making sure my Self is taken care of. If another person, even a person I love, threatens my Self, I have to block that or withdraw or whatever. When your partner comes at you with a knife, who stands there and takes it? If you know how to block the knife thrust or disarm the person you do that, if you are unsure, confused, don't know what is going on or how to deal with it, you leave. . .quickly :-) At a minimum, you state, "I will not have this conversation with you while you are holding a knife." Letting someone slash your cheek and scar you for life and then throwing that back at them later in another situation. . . is like holding a knife and threatening to slash their cheek in retaliation.