A tale as old as time. It’s amusing watching generations behind me discover it like it’s brand new, just like I did. Multigenerational trauma is real. Multigenerational growth can be, too.
Re:growth, it’s tough being in the middle though. My mom is definitely better than the stories she and her siblings have told me about how they were raised, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean she didn’t still leave me with a pile of issues and maladjustments that I have to work to keep from passing on to my daughter.
Unfortunately, better isn’t always the same as “how it should have been to begin with”.
“how it should have been to begin with” is of no value other than a historical data point from which to begin. Anything more than that is at once hobbling (Cathy Bates in Misery), and an unnecessary burden along the way. Or more succinctly, “he was always greedy; though what he grasps with one hand he flings away wit the other.”
A tale as old as time. It’s amusing watching generations behind me discover it like it’s brand new, just like I did. Multigenerational trauma is real. Multigenerational growth can be, too.
Re:growth, it’s tough being in the middle though. My mom is definitely better than the stories she and her siblings have told me about how they were raised, but it sure as hell doesn’t mean she didn’t still leave me with a pile of issues and maladjustments that I have to work to keep from passing on to my daughter.
Unfortunately, better isn’t always the same as “how it should have been to begin with”.
“how it should have been to begin with” is of no value other than a historical data point from which to begin. Anything more than that is at once hobbling (Cathy Bates in Misery), and an unnecessary burden along the way. Or more succinctly, “he was always greedy; though what he grasps with one hand he flings away wit the other.”
https://carl-jung.net/individuation_steps.html
I’m not quite sure what you’re on about.
In more concrete terms, I meant that my mother being a better parent to me than her parents were to her doesn’t make her a good parent.