Three years of parenting is on the horizon and the greatest take away for me is this: truly understanding what our parents went through. Actually they did more with less. So having a clearer idea, connecting the dots, being on the movie set to witness what it really takes to execute a scene, especially a good one.
Add to that — self betterment and wellness wasn’t really a thing. Only “crazy” people went to therapy. But even if they wanted to, most of our parents couldn’t afford it. So life was lived primarily locked in survival mode. This meant fight or flight / defensiveness and shields. White knuckles, a straight line, and two colors. Wrong or right. No tools, no processing, no new lenses. Hard lines and a very narrow path of what people should do and how they should live.
What if you were also living paycheck to paycheck? What if English was your second language? What if you were a single parent? With many children?
How do you find a sense of self and who you really are? How do you have time to date, explore, and redefine what love looks like? How do you build self worth when you have no time or ways to build a better relationship with you? How do you discover what lights you up and follow your true north? You don’t. And that’s where the slap comes from. Hitting my own face in awe.
