#5 You, too, could be my Mother

Having had a fear filled relationship with my mother, my priority in life has been to avoid getting anyone angry at me.

Mentally racing ahead to find where the traps might be, makes it difficult for me to relate to the "real" person in front of me. Weighing every word to be sure it won't offend leaves me speechless. Agreeing with the disagreeable hurts my stomach. Letting people push me into doing things I don't want to do makes me resentful.

I imagine that the other person's body language, words, looks, or silence proves that they are already mad at me. So I shut down, withdraw to a safe distance and beat up on myself for whatever I did to make them angry.

Some time later, I realize that I had made that person into my mother and not in a good way.