Today let’s talk about shame.
Have you ever felt like you should be apologizing for even being born?
I took on a sense of shame, of being a mistake, from an early age. The shame was so woven into the fabric of my being that I didn’t even know it was there. One of the most devastating effects of growing up in an alcoholic household was the sense that the bad things happening in my family were somehow my fault. If I was a mistake, I didn’t deserve good things, and in a self fulfilling prophecy, I created chaos and unhappiness for myself. As I said in a poem, “I tried to be happy, but something was wrong. My heart still carried that childhood shame song.” Separating me from my shame was an intense, yet very freeing process.
Have you ever felt like you were a mistake?
Photo Credit
“shame” by PinkMoose @ flickr.com Creative Commons – Some rights reserved
Dan L. Hays offers encouragement for adult children of alcoholics.
The podcasts of these episodes can be found at: Minute to Freedom
Recent Dan L. Hays Articles:
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Heartbreaking.
I agree, Yukari! It does tear at the heart strings to read about a bright child like me who was given the shame message so strongly. Thanks for stopping by to comment.
Dan