Dear Cali Chica:

“I went from being a child to having to be strong for her, but in there lost the ability to self trust or know what I need- for  me. What does CC need?”

– she needs to be strong, but not unrealistically or unwisely strong. In that mental unit, you took an extreme version of strong, one that is unrealistic and unwise. In your healing, you exercise a realistic and wise version of strong, the only kind of strong that works:

Focus on what matters, not on what does not matter. What matters? Make a list  of what matters, in priority order, from most important to least important. Your focus, time and resources should go to the higher priority items first. Do you want to make this list: what is important to CC, in order of priority, from most to least?

anita