[evmdimples]

Many many years ago, I was admitted to the Zoology program at San Diego State. I was so excited but... as the codep that I am I was eager to please my parents. I ended up moving back to Florida to be with them and attending a more traditional school program, business-oriented, which my father thought was far better than Zoology. I've never really been too happy working in the business world. I've made a living, but only that.

My passion has always been with animals and I've managed to somehow always incorporate them in my life, even to this day (see my Iguana post on Cafe Central, lol!) I've worked mostly with birds (my first passion): adopted, rescued, healed, bred them, invented a contraption to cure a birth defect (successfully!). I've recently wondered what would've happened if I'd followed my passion. Would I have become this highly codep person? Or would following my passion in the form of a career that was fulfilling have given me the satisfaction that's always been missing? Would that have prevented my falling deeper into my codependency? Obviously that wasn't my path. It took me all these years to finally start to break free from the family of origin codependencies, before I could move on in a more positive direction, one that works for me.

At this time in life, I am thinking of ways to incorporate working with animals. If I could find a way to earn an honest decent living doing it, even better!

As far as mental age, as I work my recovery, I'm finding that on many levels, I have the emotional/spiritual maturity of a child or rebellious teenager. Working my recovery is helping me grow those areas.

Thanks for the opportunity to share.