I Cried While Writing This

This practice of accepting my feelings without judgment and leaning into self-compassion was the first and most important step in my healing journey. As we always say in the therapy room, you can’t heal what you don’t feel.

I also realized I had to forgive my past self. I had to forgive the version of myself who sat on that couch staring into space,... See more

As the eldest daughter of an eldest daughter, my mom, I grew up seeing her slave away, holding her self-worth so tightly to how much of herself she could give up. No more, I say. Let me break the toxic cycle that has kept our inner child captive. I relieve myself of the illusion that everything, everyone, depends on me. I release the idea that I am

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What I soon realized is that maintaining a firewall between my “mom” self and the rest of my self was making motherhood much less interesting. The rest of myself was being so challenged — psychologically, spiritually, philosophically, creatively and intellectually — by caring for my son. But I resisted it, and tried to keep care small because nobod... See more