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dysfunctional family
It was 1991 and my first Christmas in my new home after my emotionally draining divorce. We lived in a depressed area. My family was 400 km away. I was struggling financially with a small business, helping in the community where I could, while nurturing my four-year-old who had some health challenges.
One time I heard that menopause is the last chance a woman has to straighten out whatever isn't right in her life. It's her last time of insight into the reality that "all is not well in the kingdom." I wonder, dear PMS, if you aren't a microcosm of that concept. My anger may actually be an insight into truth.
If, by some miracle, she makes it to age eighteen still sound of mind, it's time to bask in her glory! Sure, throw the big graduation party, but make sure it's all about you, baby!
Some are geographically distant from those they hold dear and raise a solitary glass to absent friends. Others have lost loved ones to the grave. But for many of us, "no contact" is a choice we consciously made. Loneliness is simply less painful than the agony of spending time with our toxic families.
Only do the traditional holiday stuff you enjoy doing. If cooking a Christmas feast makes you miserable, your family will be thrilled with frozen pizza. Make the Christmas of 2015 about who we are instead of what we do, buy or cook.
When siblings are raised in environments where there's conflict, chaos, rejection or a lack of protection, it has an enormous impact on how they end up relating to each-other in adult life. Over the years, I've seen a lot of patients whose siblings have behaved in strange or hostile ways toward them.
