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TeeParticipant
Dear Nar,
Thank you for replying. Let me first answer your question.
“You mentioned you had love-hate relationship with your mother. What is like your relationship with her now?”
I live in another country, I visit her a few times per year (except for 2020 â we havenât seen each other for more than a year now), and I talk on the phone almost exclusively with my father. She doesnât approve of my life, of the career path Iâve chosen, she thinks Iâm ruining my life. And sheâs blaming me for her misery. So itâs business as usual, except now I am much less affected by her attitude. I donât hate her or resent her. I accept her and even have compassion for her, but I keep a distance. Thereâs no closeness between us. And she doesnât want much contact with me either, since she always starts crying when we speak, and also, because she lost hope that Iâd change.
So weâre distant and I donât think it will ever change, because she never really saw me, and never really had faith in me, and itâs hard to be close with someone when you donât feel that kind of support.
You mentioned the attachment issue, and that youâre afraid your loved ones would die. I too had a strong separation anxiety, and I think itâs due to the fact that my parents left me at my grannyâs when I was around 1,5 years old. They left me there for 9 months, and came to visit only rarely (I spoke about that in another topic). I didnât know about that till I was much older, but it explains my fear of abandonment and of my loved ones dying. Do you know what your anxiety is tied to? You mentioned the political situation in your country and your family fearing for their safety, if I understood it well?
You said in your reply to Anita: âI understand my mother was just a product of her environment.â
Itâs okay to have understanding for our parents. I too understand that my mother was a wounded child herself, thatâs why she behaved the way she did. You can also say it was customary to hit children when they didnât perform in school, and everybody in your surroundings did it. Nevertheless, it doesnât mean those things didnât cause trauma. Sometimes thereâs collective trauma because the children are brought up in unhealthy ways. This results in collective anger and hate, which then can cause warâŚ
What I am trying to say is that we can understand all this and forgive our parents, however we also need to heal the trauma, because it did happen. Itâs okay not to blame or hate your mother, but itâs also necessary to say âthis was wrong, this is not the way to treat a childâ. And even thatâs not enough (I mean, intellectual understanding is not enough), we need to heal our inner child in order to be truly free from trauma.
You say: âI felt pain and hurt from my past relationships and failed friendships more than from my mother, more pain from the suffering and injustice in the world than my momâs silent treatmentsâŚmaybe I was âtrainedâ in a certain way in my childhood to respond to these situations, and I acquired these reactions in my childhood.â
Yes, you were molded as a child to view yourself and the world in a certain way, and you still react from your wounded inner child, especially in intimate relationships or friendships. Thatâs why they cause you trouble. I also agree with you that replacing the negative self-talk with pep talk like âI am the most worthy person in the world and nothing is my faultâ is not the solution. Because youâre not âthe most worthyâ person in the world, BUT you are worthy. We are all worthy. The inner child needs to know that and feel that. Thatâs how healing happens. Only then can our old patterns changeâŚ
- This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Tee.
TeeParticipantDear Nar,
Iâve been catching up with this topic and enjoyed the depth of discussion and the great insights provided by Anita.
Your mother seems similar to mine in the sense that my mother was also strict, criticizing me all the time and I was afraid of her as a child. You mentioned that neither you or your sister confide in your mother, and itâs the same with me. Iâve felt that when I was honest with her, she would later use it against me to put me down.
My mother too believed she was a âmartyrâ who would âdo anything for meâ (I am the only child). Like your parents, she and my father provided financially for me. We were middle class and they afforded me everything that serves my education and professional development (they paid for language schools, summer courses abroad, internships abroad, etc).
Regardless of that, my mother wasnât very supportive of me. She had an idea of who I should become, and âwhatâs best for meâ. In spite of her providing for me materially and affording me all those things, she actually hasnât provided me with emotional nurturance and support â which is even more important than the material one. Â Because of her constant criticism and complaining about life (and blaming everyone but herself), I thought it was my fault and that if I could only be perfect, she would finally be happy. Little did I know that her unhappiness was deeply rooted in her own emotional wounds and had nothing to do with me. Even if Iâd become perfect, she still wouldnât be happy. But Iâve realized that only much later in life.
So I grew up with a very deep shame, lack of self-esteem, lack of self-worth. I had every material need met, but none of the emotional ones. My father was better, much less judgmental and strict, with much more understanding for me, but he did nothing to stop my mother from tormenting me. He was a silent accomplice, so to speak.
Anita made some excellent remarks about how we as children depend on our parents for safety and support, and if they turn against us, attacking and criticizing us, itâs devastating because we have nowhere to run. They are our entire world. We look to them for protection, but at the same time, we fear them, because their love is very conditional. So we try to be a âgood girlâ or a âgood boyâ, to please them, so they wouldnât abandon us.
I had a love-hate relationship with my mother, because I needed her, both physically and emotionally, and she did meet some of my needs, but not that what I truly needed emotionally. And I hated her for that.
I guess something similar may be happening inside of you too, where a part of you loves your mother and appreciates the support she provided, but the other part is rebelling, because your true emotional needs werenât met. But what seems to also have happened is that youâre judging the rebellious part as bad. You talked about being cruel towards your granny and not helping her when she needed it. This you take as a proof that you were âa bad girlâ.
But the reality is, most likely, that it was your mother who planted this idea that you were âbadâ much earlier than you treated your granny like that. And you started believing her. When a child believes theyâre bad, they will sooner or later start behaving in ways that âproveâ how bad they are. Our motherâs critical voice becomes our owner inner critic, which torments us the same way our mother did.
As adults, our lives start falling apart and we think our mother was right â that weâre a failure and good for nothing. But the truth is the opposite: our life fell apart because we were raised with shame and criticism and were told weâre good for nothing.
Until we realize that – until we see how the wounding happened – we cannot truly heal.
I stop here, but there’s much more to be said on this topic.
TeeParticipantDear Neverdyed,
âGood to see you responding further, somehow I feel that youâre a man and no offense.â
I am a woman, and no offense taken đ Just curious why you thought I was a man? Because it might be useful in understanding how you see men vs women, that is, what features you think are features of a man vs those of a woman.
âIâve been fully aware that without the formal title, I have no right to ask much, but actually, I still donât suppose I could demand a lot even if itâs a committed relationship.â
If I understood it well, your relationship was never meant to be a committed relationship. Whose idea was it? How did you feel about being in such a “loose” relationship?
And could you clarify – what do you mean when you say that you couldnât demand much even in a committed relationship?
âAnd yes, I definitely donât want to be humiliated ever again.â
True intimacy is possible only if weâre vulnerable, if we honestly share how we feel. However, you donât need to be vulnerable with people who donât deserve it, who donât care about you or respect you. This man doesnât seem like someone whoâd appreciate your vulnerability, or care to reciprocate. But somewhere down the line, the right person might come along, and then, it will be important for you to be able to come out of your shell, without being so afraid to share yourself.
âThe big question for me at the moment is, should I save my energy and simply stay silent or should I âlistâ my points âin case he pops up once againâ?â
Well, what would you like better? I think that for the sake of breaking the pattern of silence and withdrawal, it wouldn’t be bad to stand up for yourself and express how you feel or have felt. But you might also decide it’s not worth it because he wouldn’t understand it anyway, or that his remarks might hurt you, so better to stay silent. What’s important is that you’ve understood it and that youâve decided not to tolerate certain behaviors any more.
TeeParticipantDear Javairia,
I havenât heard of exactly the phrase maladaptive daydreaming, but it seems like a way to escape a difficult reality. Children whoâve experienced trauma and donât feel physically safe in their environment (e.g. growing up in a war zone, or in a violent household, or physically abandoned or neglected by their caretakers for this or that reason), tend to disassociate from their body, to less feel the pain of living in a hostile environment. They tend to stay in their head, in their own imagined world, and daydream. As you said, itâs a coping mechanism, but itâs standing more and more in the way of normal functioning.
I didnât have the time to read your other thread, but Iâve seen you mentioned the problem of self-harming. Thatâs usually a way to return to the body, after weâve disassociated too much. Itâs like one disassociates a lot via daydreaming, and then cut themselves to return to the body, to the physical reality. Both behaviors are related to childhood trauma of living in a precarious, unsafe environment.
Do you relate to that? Also, is there a school counselor or someone you can talk to? It would be important that you create an experience of safety for yourself, e.g. by participating in a school group (a drama group maybe?) or participating in a community project. Walking in the grass, spending time in nature, hugging trees etc are all ways to âgroundâ yourself, to feel that connection with mother earth that feels too scary at the moment.
February 24, 2021 at 1:10 am in reply to: I’m addicted to nostalgic feelings and it only makes me feel worse, I guess. #375160TeeParticipantDear miyoid,
I am glad you found our ideas and suggestions helpful.
âIf someone is understanding me, showing me empathy or showing me kindness about these deep topics, I burst into tears, I cannot help it.â
Itâs probably because of a deep longing in you for care and attention, so when you feel youâve received it to a degree, itâs both touching but also causing sadness because it takes you right back to your childhood and those memories of feeling abandoned and not cared for. Am I guessing this right?
If so, try to register this feeling of being cared for as something positive, and add it to the pool of positive experiences in the present moment, rather than allowing it to trigger sadness from that old pool of negative childhood memories. If you know what I mean (it does sound somewhat confusing).
I also think itâs great what Anita suggested to keep posting here on the forum while your boyfriend is away, to make it easier for you in the following days and weeks.
Regarding your boyfriend, you say: âBut it seems like there are not any psychiatrist or psychologist good enough to help him. I donât know what can be done, he doesnât know as well. Being abandoned by one of the best and the most expensive psychiatrists around here, he feels helpless, I guess.â
What is his diagnosis, if I may ask? And why did his therapist quit their sessions? Did they suggest someone else?
âIâll have to keep going by waking up everyday, running to the office, working for hours and hours, getting back home exhausted, sleep for a couple of hours and do the same thing over and over. That would be the case whether he stays or leaves.â
You seem to have a very exhausting and demanding job, which hardly gives you any free time. Is there a way to make it a little less exhausting, or could you find another job?
TeeParticipantDear Felix:
Realistically, for a guy 43 years old isnât too old for anything, including starting a family. There are many men who had kids in their 50s and they live long enough for those kids to grow up and start their own families. Although it is harder to start a family later in life, due to physical limitations, as you say, itâs not impossible, and for many itâs worked just fine.
And another thing, itâs not just physical health that matters for a happy family, itâs also mental and emotional health. Now youâre much more mature and self-aware than 15 years ago, and you have a much better chance to sustain a happy marriage and have happy, healthy kids. Many immature young men end up having children and messing them up. Youâre lot less likely to do that. So thereâs even a benefit of starting a family when youâre more mature.
You also mention culture limitations. What exactly did you have in mind?
TeeParticipantDear Neverdyed,
Thanks for your welcome! And for replying and clarifying.
You say: âI checked it before and found that I might have an anxious attachment style or so, haha. I did open up to a degree long time ago, but itâs not appreciated, so to protect myself from being hurt again, Iâve chosen to share far less now.â
Youâre right, youâre not avoiding closeness. In fact, you would appreciate it, but youâre discouraged by him not welcoming it, so you withdraw into your shell, not sharing much about whatâs going on inside of you. Youâre kind of pretending that you donât care, or at least not that much, although you do.
You did tell him once âI donât need on and off contactsâ, but he didnât see any problem with that, even claiming it wouldnât be healthy to talk every day. He also said that if he doesnât reply for a week or so, it doesnât mean he doesnât care. Thatâs a spin, because in reality, if we care about someone romantically, we want to be in touch frequently. So you did express your need, which is a good thing, but he brushed it off and then youâve withdrawn. You haven’t expressed your need again, except passively, by being cold and reserved.
You say you behave like that because of your pride (I donât want to be seen as âoh, Iâm so interested in youâ. I recalled the other day that I once told him something like âI care too much about my pride, so even if I want something, I wouldnât say itâ.) Actually I donât think itâs pride, rather itâs fear of getting hurt and humiliated if you admit how much he means to you. You fear rejection if you express yourself, express your need and make yourself vulnerable. So you say a little bit, you peak out of your shell, and then you go right back since you werenât welcomed with open arms.
A part of the reason could be because your mother used to criticize your singing. You showed yourself, i.e. made yourself vulnerable, and she ridiculed it, or something to that effect?
She also told you were self-centered:
âI think I might be self-centered in my childhood, and now I still am somewhat so, just when I was with him or another friend, I believe that I usually put their needs first.â
I donât know at what age she started telling you that, but a child is naturally self-centered. Children want their needs to be met first, they want their toys, theyâre all about âitâs mine, give it to me!â Itâs a natural childâs instinct, but if itâs constantly put down and criticized by their parents, the child later wonât be able to express their needs and stand up for themselves.
Youâve mentioned multiple times that you donât want to be selfish with your boyfriend, even though what you hoped for from him wasnât selfish at all. It was normal to expect in a loving relationship. But he told you it was selfish, or unhealthy (you said he judged you when you demanded more contact.) So I think there’s a connection there: heâs judged you as being selfish, similarly to how your mother judged you. And it was simply for expressing your legitimate needs. Youâre not selfish at all, you just want whatâs rightfully yours.
âwhen I was with him or another friend, I believe that I usually put their needs first.â
Yes, because you suppress your own needs, even if they are legitimate.
Think about that. You were never selfish, you were told youâre selfish, which is not true. You have the right to demand certain things for yourself. You have the right to express your needs.
TeeParticipantDear Felix:
âI guess I am just as I mentioned before, a tired animal who was being chased by a pack of lions.â
Do you feel youâre still being chased by those lions or you feel you can relax now?
TeeParticipantDear Felis,
Itâs great youâre discussing all those things with your therapist and putting them into perspective. Your mom throwing books at you if you donât know the answer could be a pretty bad trauma, though you might have not taken is so badly since she later apologized. But as you say, it left a mark on you, and it actually might have impacted your self-esteem. How do you feel about yourself? Do you have self-confidence?
You say: I think, for now, I am trying to parent my inner child that, âIâm safe and my parents will never leave me behind.â
When youâre soothing your inner child, try to also phrase it as if you were a good parent to that child. So you might say something like âyouâre safe and I will never leave you behind.â You can discuss it with your therapist first, but I think phrasing it like that would help even more.
TeeParticipantDear Kilian,
I relate to your question and your desperation too. I am not a traditional Christian but I deeply believe in Jesus and have faith in God. My experience is that sometimes itâs us who contribute to our disease, and once the imbalance in our body & soul is healed, weâre healed from the disease too. But sometimes it feels itâs just unfair, be it an innocent child who gets severely sick, or an accident that leaves the person paralyzed, or even a chronic pain that limits us to enjoy life (such as in my case).
I do keep my faith, talk to Jesus on a regular basis, but itâs hard. I still havenât exhausted all options for healing (itâs my knee), I just need to be patient till the pandemic is over and I can go safely to doctors again. But the whole situation is very frustrating and I am not sure what the lesson is behind it, except to make me suffer. Job (from the Bible) suffered a lot, but never lost his faith, even after everything was taken away from him. So he would be a role model, but it’s hard…
What is the nature of the disease and suffering that youâre facing, if youâd like to share a bit more?
TeeParticipantDear John,
Your words show that you have a lot of self-awareness and insight, which is great! I think youâve even defined the crux of the problem: your fear of becoming like your father, which sort of became a self-fulfilling prophecy for you. As you said it yourself, that fear drove you to do your best and excel at so many areas of your life.
What Iâve learned recently is that there are two types of motivation: one is to move away from something, and the other is to move towards something. It appears you were driven by the first kind, wanting to move away from the destiny that has befallen your father. But this kind of motivation can only take you so far, because itâs exhausting to be constantly running away from something. Itâs much easier to run towards something that you want and desire. To be motivated by love, by an open heart, by expansiveness, rather than by fear and constriction.
Another important thing that I believe can help you is to stop judging yourself so harshly. You havenât explicitly said it (and I am sorry if I am rushing with this assumption), but I have a feeling youâve been pretty harsh on yourself, pushing yourself to be great at many things and to keep a high standard: to be a great boyfriend, friend, take care of yourself, eat healthy⌠simply, to be at the top your game. Youâve managed to do that for a while, but when you and your girlfriend broke up (for which youâre blaming yourself), I guess this inner critic started a full-blown attack on you, and it all collapsed, so to speak. Youâve collapsed. Thatâs when things started to go south for you, in all areas.
In order to pick yourself up, youâd need to learn to counter the voice of the inner critic and develop more compassion for yourself. To be like a good parent to yourself, have compassion if you make mistakes, donât expect perfection from yourself. Because weâre human, weâre allowed to make mistakes.
So you go slowly, one step at the time, and if you make a mistake and fall, you get up and shake off the dust. And try again. Like a child learning to walk. You donât have to be Superman, you donât have to excel at all things at all times. Small steps, lots of compassion. At least thatâs how I see a possible path ahead.
Let me know what you thinkâŚ
TeeParticipantDear Felix,
Youâve been through a lot, youâve faced major setbacks, you even had to battle cancer. Youâre tired and exhausted (no wonder!), but you feel you cannot give yourself a break, you must be 100% disciplined and focused on staying healthy. You say your every day is scheduled and thereâs no time for fooling around. Everything you do, every minute of your day, has to be purposeful and well spent. You say you feel like a robot and this regime actually makes you feel exhausted, but you believe you have to continue in order to stay healthy.
Dear Felix, you actually need to give yourself a break! Because in order to stay healthy, we need balance, and without fun and joy and relaxation, we arenât in balance. Right now, youâre pushing yourself to be âperfectâ in every sense, as a compensation for all the mistakes you made in the last 15 years. You feel youâve messed up, and now you have to make up for it. Thatâs fine, itâs okay if we suddenly wake up and realize we havenât lived our lives in the best possible way, and now we want to do things differently. However, we cannot go on without self-compassion. We cannot go on in a healthy, balanced, sustainable way.
So instead of pushing yourself to the limits and living like a stoic, Iâd suggest introducing a bit more joy and fun in your healthy lifestyle. Pamper yourself a bit more. It doesnât need to be self-indulgent, but simply nurturing, enjoyable, something that recharges your batteries instead of depleting them.
It takes a shift in perspective â from self-condemnation to self-compassion. Forgive yourself for your past mistakes. We all make mistakes, and we often donât change until life forces us to. Life did force you, but youâve learned your lessons, youâve changed course. Now you can relax a bit and stop to smell the roses, as they say đ
Good luck!
TeeParticipantDear Neverdyed,
Iâve only joined the forum recently and was catching up with the very interesting conversation on this thread. From your recent posts, it appears youâre still keeping in touch with your male friend, but now youâre cold with him, and he doesnât like it. Did I get that right?
It seems to me that both of you have the avoidant attachment style, meaning that both of you are afraid of intimacy and a deep, honest sharing of yourself. Of vulnerability. Because without vulnerability, thereâs no intimacy, and there cannot be a deeper bond between two people.
I donât know what his story is and why heâs afraid of intimacy, but clearly, his actions suggest that he doesnât have serious intentions with you, and that he believes itâs okay to forget about you for days on end and not reply. Even, that daily contact wouldnât be âhealthyâ.
You asked anita if he behaves like this because youâre too much to handle (so he needs to put a boundary to protect himself), or because he doesnât care. Unfortunately, itâs because he doesnât care â because youâre not asking too much. On the contrary, youâre hardly asking anything!
As anita noted, youâre afraid to express your needs, to initiate contact, to even demand things that are rightfully yours, because youâre afraid of rejection. Youâre also afraid of being like your mother if youâre too assertive or âdemandingâ. The result is that often times you stay silent, withdrawn, unexpressed.
Earlier in the conversation, you said that you mother used to tell you âyou have good grades in school, but you need to change your attitude towards peopleâ. What exactly did she mean by that? What attitude towards people did you have?
It seems that during childhood, you witnessed two unbalanced ways to deal with conflict: one is your fatherâs, whoâd rather leave the house or stay silent throughout the conflict (basically, he escaped conflict, choosing not to express himself). The other is your motherâs, who complained a lot, attacking and blaming your father (for being the victim, for serving your father while he behaves like in a hotel, etc). If I understood well, she was also provoked by his silence, which made her even more furious.
You decided that you liked your fatherâs style better, that itâs more mature, while your motherâs is immature and childish. In reality, neither is better or worse, both are unbalanced. Neither attacking and blaming the other, nor escaping confrontation will actually solve the problem. Expressing ourselves and asserting our needs, while at the same time respecting the other and taking into account their needs as well, would be the middle way.
Anyway, enough for now, Iâve written a lot. Hope this was helpful in some way and that with time, you resolve your conflicts.
TeeParticipantDear Felis,
I believe if we have a strong fear of abandonment, itâs almost always related to our first years of life. However, it doesnât necessarily have to be due to our parents not giving us proper care. It can also be because e.g. we were sick as a child and needed to spend some time in a hospital, away from our parents. Or our mother was sick and couldn’t properly care for us. For me, my parents left me at my grannyâs when I was about 1,5 years old, so that my mother can finish her university degree, and I was there for approx. 9 months. During that time my parents visited me only a handful of times, because it was far away. I didnât know about it till I was 35 years old, but when I did find out, it explained a lot of my anxiety that I experienced throughout my childhood and into my adult life.
So sometimes itâs the outer circumstances, and not necessarily our parents’ fault, that can cause us to be anxiously attached, but this wound usually happens quite early in childhood. Losing your best friend from childhood, with whom you bonded a lot, can also be traumatic, though I donât think itâs the main cause of anxiety, it just added to it.
February 20, 2021 at 11:33 am in reply to: I’m addicted to nostalgic feelings and it only makes me feel worse, I guess. #374988TeeParticipantThank you dear anita for your kind words.
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