Dear Anita,

I think you’re right about all that. This really isn’t a big deal, but I’m obsessing over it for some reason, possibly due to past traumas.

All I can remember is that when I was younger, I would give my step mother a lot of attitude and I would get annoyed with things that she did. I hated that she smoked, I hated when she tried to dress “young” for her age, I hated that she went tanning, etc etc and I would call her out on all of that stuff. Once again, I feel like it ties back to my perfectionism. The things she did bothered me so much for some reason, possibly because I wanted to be in control. I wanted her to be the perfect mother-figure. I think we just had very different personalities, and that’s why we clashed. I’m type-A, whereas she was complete opposite.

Christina