Showing results for "das boot" in Dysfunctional Families

From the outside, Vanya’s childhood of riding horses with her father in the solitude of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and attending flamboyant operas with her mother in the city looked idyllic. But life for Vanya was more about learning to gauge and survive her parents’ unpredictable actions - from being left to lie in her own blood-soaked diaper while her Christian Scientist mother prayed, refusing to get medical help, to watching her father writhe on his bed in the detox ward, his hands and feet tethered with leather straps.

Mothers are powerful influences on little girls' lives. Sometimes, this is a dangerous truth. Until we have children of our own, we often don't realize just how much our lives are shaped by the women who raised us. Growing up with a mother who suffered from depression and bipolar disorder shaped me in many ways, and taught me lessons that I carried with me into adulthood. This life experience left me with limiting beliefs that shadowed who I was and prevented me from showing up as my whole self for many years.