Vivien

“Multiple conflicting truths can exist at the same time. You can be grateful for what your parents could give you emotionally and feel grief for what they couldn't. You can have empathy for what your parents have gone through themselves, for the trauma they must have survived, and feel angry that you experienced what you did. You can acknowledge that your parents did their best with the awareness and resources they had at the time and acknowledge that their best still really hurt you.”
― Meg Josephson, Are You Mad at Me?

“When conflict is constantly brushed under the rug, though, the person who decides to lift up the rug and address the issues—the person who’s healing—is naturally going to have a harder time believing their own experiences because no one else is there to say, “Yeah, that did happen, and what you’re feeling makes sense.” The child who’s called “dramatic” is made to feel like they’re the problem, but really, they’re often just the one communicating the problem that others aren’t willing to look at.”
― Meg Josephson, Are You Mad at Me?

“The experience of what we're feeling is real, but the thoughts surrounding those feelings aren't always true.”
― Meg Josephson, Are You Mad at Me?

“We can start healing when we stop trying to get our pain validated by the people who caused us harm. So often we look for external validation from those who aren't emotionally capable of seeing the pain they caused and may never be capable of doing that in his lifetime.”
― Meg Josephson, Are You Mad at Me?