Be gentle with your precious self. Treat yourself like you would your own child or your best friend.
My mother became ill and passed when I was quite young, leaving behind six children; the youngest was seven. My dad was a sometimes violent yet functioning alcoholic who had never done a load of laundry or cooked a meal, let alone know how to parent six children.
When I got older, I realized that I had to learn how to parent that very wounded child that still lived in me. One of the first things I did was begin to tell myself that it was okay if I just couldn’t bring myself to do something, if I needed to rest, or give myself permission to simply care for myself. I really had no reference point for someone caring for me. This was the beginning of healing for me.
My dad passed when I was still pretty young as well, but we had a profound healing of our relationship just before he transitioned. I wouldn’t change a thing about my childhood or my father. I am deeply grateful for all of it.
On a lighter note: I dressed PSP in my clothes again. She’s wearing my pale lime green #ilovemrmittens sweater and hat that I love, love! I generally wear pants, though. Wink.
Princess Sassy Pants & Co.™ 
your story is similar to my own, I grew up with a bi-polar mom who refused help, my dad told me that I had to be the mom she couldn’t be to my younger siblings. She was a very abusive person and when I turned 17, I had very little to do with her after that, until a month before she passed from cancer…I made the first move towards forgiving her and she, in turn offered apologies. I look back now at everything that has happened in all of my 58 years and see how God used those times to make me compassionate, to help me help others and I am learning also to heal myself. My husband passed last year so the grieving process is long, hard but also beautiful in that I can see that I am capable of growing…moving forward and am doing it one day at a time.
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Good morning. Thank you for sharing your heart. Sending love.💙💛🧡💚
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