If you are depressed, anxious, addicted to drugs or alcohol, in a domestic violence relationship or suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, you may have low self-esteem. In fact, low self-esteem plays a role in many mental health disorders. However, you can have low self-esteem without having a specific disorder.
Dependent. Co-dependent. Afraid to be alone. Passive. I have been all of these things at some point in my life, though less and less so as the years go by. As my mom likes to say, my “emotional batting average” continues to improve.
Dependent. Co-dependent. Afraid to be alone. Passive. These are just some of the ways society describes individuals struggling with the issue of dependency. Most people trying to overcome dependency do not have Dependent Personality Disorder; however, they may have some symptoms thereof.
A family friend once said, “Goals that are not written down are rarely achieved.” When I first heard this statement I did not think much of it. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try. About a year ago, I started writing my goals down and then referring back to them periodically to track my […]
Most people will make one or more “new year resolutions” on or before January 1st. Unfortunately, many of these people will never fully realize their goals, even though they try their hardest to do so.
Christmas dinner and you are the host. Here is what you are thinking as your guests arrive. You must remember not to offer your best friend’s mother a glass of wine because she is a recovering alcoholic. You must remember not to talk to your grandfather about his failing health because last year when you […]
Stores set out Halloween merchandise as soon as the back-to-school displays come down. And immediately after that shelves are stocked with Christmas items. In fact, in a store near my house, they put the Halloween and Christmas stuff up simultaneously, side by side. We are made aware of the holiday season between October and January […]
If you could wave a magic wand and have the family you want, what would it be like? Would you eat more dinners together, go to church together on Sundays, or spend Saturdays volunteering at a local soup kitchen?
“I’m trying to find myself.” How many of us have ever heard someone say those words? It seems people are always trying to find themselves—in their twenties, thirties, forties—and beyond. Lately, I have been asking myself, what would it take to raise a child who knew who they were (or at least mostly so) by […]
It happened sometime during my childhood, though I don’t remember exactly when. Our family had been through a particularly trying time and I realized I had begun to be a pessimist. Even as a child I recognized that my negativity was destructive to my emotional health. Moreover, I felt my black cloud caused some people […]
