I don’t think this will come as a shock, but I could not trust my parents. My mother used to act friendly until she got whatever she wanted from me. My father only wanted one thing. Unfortunately, I could not trust most of my relatives either, although there were a couple of exceptions. As I grew up and began to embody the energy of my family, I would attract people in to my life who were dishonest. This is what I expected, so this is what life delivered.
I remember the first time I discussed this with my therapist. My therapist has a brilliant poker face. It is the first thing they teach you in social work school. You aren’t supposed to look shocked. But when I told her that EVERYTHING has a double meaning, she wasn’t sure what to say. She tried to clarify. “Do you think every statement from every person in your life has a double meaning?” I said yes. She kindly suggested that this might be a belief system from my childhood. She kindly suggested that some people in the world may really say what they mean and say it for the right reasons. I logically knew she was right, but my inner child part was not having any of it. My experiences had proven that people were only interested in their own personal benefit.
Sometimes, my therapist would ask me what I thought when she responded to me in a supportive way. To her dismay, I would tell her that I was paying her to do that.
Fast forward through six years of hard work in therapy, and I do recognize the support of those around me. I do know that some people support me because they care, and not because they want something from me. It gets better every day as I meet more and more amazing people. But there’s a problem. During those six years, I have been raising children. As I have discussed before, children are mirrors.
So, yesterday it happened. My daughter said something and I woke up with a jolt.
My son was doing something “annoying”. This is not shocking. My son lives to do “annoying” stuff. By annoying, I mean making exceptionally loud noises while moving at an extremely fast pace in any direction. It is so common that I cannot recall what he was doing. It really doesn’t even matter. My daughter blurted out, “You are only doing that to annoy me.”
As soon as she said it, I knew who it came from, and I was looking at her in the mirror. I had to face the fact that my own distrust of people is leaving its mark on my children. I had to face the fact that I must get us back on the right path as a family.
It didn’t take long for an opportunity to present itself. We were getting in the car yesterday afternoon, and my son let my daughter go first. To be fair, this is a rare event. I was even a little bit shocked. My daughter gave him a suspicious look, and asked why. She didn’t say it, but I could tell she was trying to figure out what was in it for him. So, we had a talk. I explained that sometimes people do things to be nice. They seemed to take it in, but still weren’t entirely sure what I was saying. I said that we needed to work as a family to look for the good reasons why people might be helpful. I told them that they would need to help me find all the ways people are nice just to be nice. They seemed up for the challenge.
And so, the “un-training” begins. Of course, I know the process will be much easier for them. People are born to trust. Children can find those innate qualities easier than adults. It won’t be long before they are reminding me that I need to trust others. This is good and bad, but when something needs to be brought from the unconscious to the conscious, it must be discussed openly. The light drives out the darkness. And everyone knows, children bring the light.
Wow this is incredible. It spoke to me, and I can relate to you.
Thank you Zoe!
Me too. I just said the same thing to my therapist, that she is supportive because I pay her for that. And that of course I did not trust her.
What a wonderful teacher you are to your children and will continue to be… It is important to listen for the teachings of the universe – through what is around us – whether it be children, or whether it be a loved one, or even a stranger, who perhaps for no apparent reason at all, says something profound that means something special to us and us alone. It’s very uplifting and inspiring to read that not only are you working to make sure your children are safe and well cared for (on several different levels), but that you are ‘listening’. Well Done!
Thank you so much.
Way to recognize what your children need and act accordingly! You found a perfect teachable moment and I bet your children will never forget the lesson you are teaching them. In doing so, you are ensuring that the cycle of distrust will stop. Proud of you!
Thank you so much Melissa!
You should be very proud of yourself! not everybody realize about their real situation and make a turning point as you are doing.Good job! You are a wonderful mother, because ,that’s exactly what they need .Your model and your strength to make yours a better family.
Thank you Jenny!
I hear you on this. Children are definitely mirrors. I try to balance good and bad with what mine mirror to not beat myself up too badly. And take the bad as a gift that shows me I have more to work on.
But the trust piece…it is so very hard. I had always trusted my T (to what was the best of my ability to do so). A few months ago, though, I read an article on trauma and the avoidant patient (which is me precisely) and it embodied so much of my relationship with my T. I could feel my trust drained as everything all of a sudden became contrived, fake, inauthentic. And I cut off from her and anyone I had been talking to about it.
I eventually came back and have rebuilt. It’s almost overwhelming to see how easily my trust can be shattered. Yes,the article hit on some deep wounds, but she had done nothing to break that trust.
I know it’s about this deep need to try to keep myself safe. Not sure if I’ll ever be able to absolutely trust in the safety of others.
The therapist relationship is a hard one because we will attempt to re-create those childhood relationships with them. And we inherently expect them to do something to hurt us (even if we don’t expect that consciously). I have had moments like that too. I was so triggered. I saw her as one of my abusers. It is when we work out those triggers with our therapists that the real healing happens. I guarantee you healed from that experience, maybe a little, maybe a lot, but you did. Keep moving forward. You are doing great.
Ha! Ha! I burst out laughing at your comments to your therapist because I have spent my whole life with the feeling of only wanting to deal with people who “say what they mean and mean what they say”. I have actually told people in my life on several occasions that very saying. It is so funny that only in reading your blog have I come to realize that my recurring comment was trying to get me to see where that triggered feeling came from.
I actually very strongly want to make that a life slogan.
That would be an awesome life slogan!