I have been introduced to my second superior part over the past week. Unlike my superior defender, this part is a rebel who wants to do her own thing. At first, I found it a bit amusing to listen to her talk about how much better she is than everyone else. But in this work, no feeling stays for long (especially the good ones). This part is struggling. She is struggling with so much futility. She is struggling to find her way in a world that doesn’t acknowledge her. She went through horrific neglect and abuse. She was a child with great ideas who was never heard. She wanted to be different, but knew the visibility was too dangerous. And unfortunately, that is only part of her story.
She grew up to be a woman in a “man’s career” and the pattern continued. She was the one with soft skills who was given all the tasks nobody else wanted. She was the one without the highly technical knowledge who had to prove herself by working harder and longer than the others. She handled all the stuff they hated. She struggled to be seen for the skills she really brought to the table. She was just the token woman in technology who could make them look a bit better, a bit less misogynistic.
And then, she became a survivor in an activist movement. Let’s face it, almost everyone in activism is a survivor. But she was an “outed” survivor. And with that comes baggage. It is not a decision to be made lightly. Survivors are not given the same clout as those who have read the books and taken the tests. They aren’t invited to the conferences to speak (unless it is to tell their story). They certainly aren’t invited to be an expert at anything. And they certainly don’t get to be an expert in trauma recovery. So the pattern continued. She worked harder than most to get her message out there, to get it taken seriously. She was treated as “just another survivor” by far too many. She was condescended to and treated like her opinion didn’t matter. What could she possibly share that hadn’t been shared a thousand times before?
And it is heartbreaking to see how this part tried to make sense of the world around her. It is heartbreaking to see the belief path she chose to keep going in a world that had no interest in what she had to say. Instead of falling into a deep lack of self-esteem (that was the job of another part), she chose to go a different direction. She chose to assume they were intimidated by her brilliance. She chose to assume they tried to keep her down because they could not handle her. She chose to allow herself the space to be a great, creative, brilliant, unique person who others wanted to knock down for their own selfish reasons. This became her story.
I respect that decision. The story isn’t true of course. Maybe there were a few who were intimidated by me (or my mean girl). Maybe there were a few who recognized what I had to offer and were worried about competing with that. But the reality is much harder to take. The people in my childhood were not good people. They treated me poorly when there was no reason for it. It wasn’t because I was superior to them. It wasn’t because I was inferior to them. It was because of them. They did bad things. They were responsible for their behavior. I was not. That realization brings despair for a child. It brings deep hopelessness because there is nothing the child can do. So instead, our inner parts pick a story. And her story was superiority.
So now I have to unravel her beliefs that my innate superiority will cause others to attempt to knock me down. It’s hard because there is futility and grief to be felt in that process. But it is critical to my recovery to do it. I do it because I know what lives on the other side of it. There is so much beauty in this work. When I help her process her false story, I get the gift of her strength. That strength looks like a confident rebelliousness. I will know the truth. I will do what feels right to me. And there is not a person in the world who will take me off that path. I will be who I am. I will be seen. And this is empowerment. This is what it means to live.
Wow. This. Totally relate.
Thank you Rae!
Wonderful to read this Elisabeth :). And an insight into how profound & rich the work is when you get into it.
Thank you Cat!
Um yes- your words are good. When I speak of how worthless and bad I feel- or a part/ many parts of me feel-90% of me feels- many people try to jolly me out of it by telling me what a good person I am, that I am worth protecting and defending. But it has the effect of sending me straight to the bottom of despair and give-up. Because part of what I’ve experienced is the badness and worthlessness, and to come out of the fog and amnesia means I must and want to feel my life as I experienced it. That’s part of feeling what I feel and getting to know the realness of what it was like to live my life- as a child, and even now. Seems counterintuitive- but in a Paradoxical way, to know and feel the experience of these things gives me power. Tho I am standing on crappy things, like feeling stupid, or evil, I am standing on Reality, as it was/is, and as I understood it. And from here I can move- if I’m pretending to be all chipper and la-la-la about how I deserve x,y, or z because I’m really a good person, then I am standing on nothing but wish and fantasy. I like how you are seeing behind the bravado of your rebel, and getting to know her belief system and how it’s been warped. And then educating, showing her something different, and being able to incorporate her gifts and strengths. That’s the direction I want as well.
Thank you so much Wendy. This is a hard journey because those emotions are so difficult to feel. Reconciling our two realities can be such a hard thing to grasp. Over time, we can guide our parts to look at things differently. But it’s not easy.
I am just starting this and it is extremely painful and overwhelming and sad and scary
It really is. I am sending my love to you Jolo.
We see you Elisabeth. We hear you. And we listen and read every week because you say what we can’t always easily articulate, with such depth and lived meaning. Please know that and please keep going, for yourself, your family, us faithful followers, and for those who don’t yet know you are here:)
Thank you so much Trena! I love this work and my faithful followers. I won’t ever stop doing this. And I’m glad you’re a part of it.
Wow.
Just wow. I want to say so much more but fir now.
Thank you and wow!
Thank you Pearl!
Wow! What a beautiful blog. I am so grateful for this part of you. You gave so much to the world because of relentless efforts of this part to be not put down, to not remain unseen. Yes, this part needs healing. Yes, this part will shine stronger. I see this part as your higher-self mixed-in some unresolved trauma.
Thank you so much Shail!
I just want you to know that I salute this part of you. She took hero’s journey, an audacious adventure, instead of the default path. This is inspiring.
Hi Elisabeth,
I didn’t even realize I had a superior part until I started checking myself after reading you!
It is so interesting to have discovered I have, but like you I am trying to understand “her” story with love and compassion.
Thanks for leading the way……again 🙂
yvette x
Thank you Yvette. I am so glad this post helped you find a part. I love it when that happens.
Thank you for sharing this even now with all I read from
You I still stay in the background still fearing to come out
But this one hit a nerve. See me! How truthfully appropriate.
Carole
Thank you Carole. I am glad you took the chance to write a comment.
I have also felt like others try to keep me ‘down’! And, I have resented that and felt the need to defend myself against that and fight for my right to be heard and seen for the value that I have to offer. My defensiveness has resulted in offensiveness, as I have been offensive to those who I felt were trying to denigrate me or undermine me. But, as I have realized that my defensiveness/offensiveness was fueled by my own weakness and insecurities, I have been able to lesson my responses. And, as I continue to realize the weakness and insecurity that still affects me, I am able to move toward deeper healing.
It is great that you have been able to see this Beth. We often act from these beliefs and end up creating the very thing we expected. We can interrupt the patterns in exactly this way.
Thank you for writing this and sharing Elizabeth. All of your parts are so beautiful and we love hearing about them. My superior one in my system took on a role within my as the inner therapist. I’m not certain Saga is a rebel though she chose to help others within when the world failed to recognize her existence as a child and later through my disabilities. Saga’s skills have never recognized nor acknowledged and she has handled so many of the emotional meltdowns within my system in the past. I’m not sure if she’s fit’s your description though my inner family regards her behavior as superior and she portrays that behavior to outside world. As you stated so eloquently instead of folding during the abuse, this part of me rose up and found ways to interact and help others within my system function more smoothly. I know that Saga is deeply frustrated with the world though I’m not clear on her futility other than not being acknowledged for her intelligence and unique ability helping others. Many of the things you said resonate with who she is. Thank you.
Thank you so much Kris. I think Saga is a great example. I am sure she feels very underappreciated for her skills. That can definitely build up futility.