Dear Janine:

In your “afraid of me” thread you wrote: “I go in circles about this being all my fault and thinking that I will always be evil and unlovable.”- so there is the going-in-circles theme.

You turned 18 a short while ago. I wish you worked real hard on healing. If you did, in five years you’d be in a good place and you will only be 23. I wish you worked on your childhood abuse (starting with believing it was abuse!), healing from the shame, a result of being mistreated as a child.

And as you heal, you will gain a sense of pride, pride in your healing work. You will realize you are a good, worthy, lovable person (have been from the beginning)who deserves respect, from this guy and from any other person, from yourself.

anita