I am linking our conversation here: https://imgur.com/a/BBJG4ER

I wrote an article about self-esteem. One of the paragraphs mentioned, very non-specifically, that I had low self-esteem from childhood due to certain standards that were conditional on my behavior.

I guess that upset my mom. I don’t want to hurt her or make it seem like I was blaming her. The article was long and about ways to build self-esteem. One paragraph talks broadly about why I have low self-esteem and she gets her feelings hurt. To me it shows guilt because I didn’t even say it was because of her.

Anyway what really pisses me off is my stepdad pretending like he’s fixing this and sticking up for her, when it feels like I’m the one under the bus.

I’ve responded as diplomatically and evenly as possible but I wonder if I handled it right.

I wanted to tell him that no one protected me when I was being criticized and put down or punished for not being their perfect little girl. For not being girly enough or lacking feelings enough. Where was my protector? Nowhere.

So I’m picking up the pieces as an adult and that’s fine. I’m not mad at my mom and I don’t want to hurt her or make her feel bad about the past. I was proud of the article and I wanted to help people.

Just wanted a place to vent.