Originally Posted by
anvilhead 
how about you start by dropping all these LABELS you put on yourself...
the Strong One
the Support System
cuz that's a set up, that lets you play a ROLE instead of BE a person.
so Just For Today, hang up the cape Superwoman.
time to get real, time to be Just YOU.
once you give yourself permission to not BE a role, to not BEHAVE in a certain expected and acceptable fashion........once you do that, you will be able to free OTHERS from that same expectation. you will begin to see that you have always done the best you could at the time. and so has everyone else.
thing is some days our BEST doesn't amount to doodly squat.
my mother fell far short of the IDEALS set forth for mothers.
but i know absolutely to my core today that i would not be who i am, a full half a century old, if not FOR my mom. i have come to appreciate so much in my life.
there is no one in your life as important as YOU. and you have no greater task before you than to BE. you have worth simply by existing. you are not shackled, caged or hindered in any way from releasing your most glorious self upon the world, except by virtue of your own imagined limitations.
Thankyou, thankyou, I needed this one - great advice. You are right, everyone does see me as superwoman i think. Lets call Joanne, lets see what Joanne thinks, Joanne will fix it and I guess I thought this was normal. Even from the age of 8, I was the family support, (wouldnt make sense to anyone, too long story) but its true. I always felt like the one on the 'outer' in the background 'doing' trying to get my parents to see I was there, always trying to do my best. I know that they loved me and saw me as the good eldest child but I dont really remember any acknowledgement. The only time I ever heard my mother tell me she loved me was after my sisters funeral. It shattered me, I felt that, why did it take so long. I dont ever remember my father giving me a hug or telling me he loved me either. It is time to take a deep breathe, relax, calm down and be ok with me. I really have to stop dwelling on the past I guess and get on with it.