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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 19 total)
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  • #367064
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi,

    I have a good job, having a few responsibilities but there is always a feel that i lack something.
    I always feel unwanted in a group may be family, workplace or friends.
    I go to a maximum limit of helping people or doing something for someone
    just for having a place in someone’s life. I have days where i just where i do not know
    what should i do with myself?

    Amrita

    #367065
    Debdatta Mandal
    Participant

    look i can suggest you a few ways which might help you in life.

    1. Value the people who give you a special place in their life. In this world full of fake people you will find a handful who will truly love you and care for you. You do not need to have a lot of friends. Just be with the people who value you for you.

    2. Love yourself. Spend quality time with yourself. Do things which you love to do in your past time. You will gain energy to beat all the negativities in your life.

    3. Make a schedule of the things which you plan to do the next day. This will boost your self confidence.

     

     

     

     

    #367090
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    You shared in your post elsewhere, and here, that when you were a child, you always felt that you were an unwanted child, that people did not need you, and as a result, you went out of your way “in working or doing things for people just for that appreciation, that I am important at some place… I go to a maximum limit of helping people or doing something for someone just for having a place in someone’s life”. You currently have a good job, but “there is always a feel that I lack something. I always feel unwanted in a group may be family, workplace or friends”.

    My input: for a child to feel okay, the child has to be considered important to her mother, or if the family consists of more than just the mother, then the child has to feel important to the family. A child cannot feel okay otherwise.

    The reason for this is that we people are social animals, like coyotes and domestic dogs, or elk and even bees. In a social group, an individual has to have a role, something he/she does that is valued by the group. The guard dog feels valued when successfully guarding his human family’s property. In the bees society, the male bees, once they don’t have a role in the hive, they are kicked out! In other societies as well, individual animals who are not valued by the group are expelled and even killed.

    All it takes for a child to feel valued in her family, is for family members to smile when they see her, to say a kind word, in a kind tone, sending the child the message: I am glad you are here. It makes me feel good that you are a part of this family! And then, it takes giving the child little jobs, like clearing the table, and saying: good job; you made my life easier, thank you!

    It doesn’t sound like much, does it? And yet, it is too much for so many parents to do, these simple things. What was your experience, in your family?

    I will  be glad to share mine.

    anita

    #367108
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    Yes, u did get it right .I have always wanted it from my mother among my parents. I wanted her to feel and show that she is happy/proud of me in whatever little I could achieve or my choices then as a child or in-fact even now. Even today a 40 year old me wants her to feel and show she is happy and satisfied with what I am or where I am .

    I feel that it is this behavior of mine that I started to feel that I need to go out of way or have to do things which will further result in people feeling/thinking good about me.

    You can ask/question me anything if you need to know something.

    Amrita

     

    #367128
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    In my own experience, when you don’t get that “she is happy/ proud of me” feeling from your mother as a child, for months and years.. it creates an emptiness in the heart, and that emptiness hurts and yearns to be filled.

    People react to this painful emptiness in all kinds of ways, some, like you, “go to a maximum limit of helping people or doing something for someone”; others get angry at everyone they meet, sooner or later, arguing and fighting. There are people who do both. Others perhaps stay away from people.

    A child’s need to be approved/ liked by her mother has a time limit to be filled, and that time limit is in earlier childhood. By the time you are a teenager/ an adult, even if your mother changed and liked you, and was proud of you- she can no longer fill the emptiness that she created, nor can anyone else.

    The way to fill that painful emptiness is sometimes in quality psychotherapy where you express how this emptiness feels, how it was created, how it felt all along, and after enough expression and a growing understanding, you will finally be able to accept some people’s liking of you, to really take it in and feel that you are indeed  liked, and that you like yourself, and that emptiness will be filled.

    I am glad you invited me to ask you questions. Here are my questions:

    1. Are you currently in a relationship/ married?

    2. Are you a mother: do you have a child or children?

    3. Are you living with your mother, or close to her (same town/ city)?

    4. What did you do for your mother as a child, so to make her happy/ proud of you?

    5. What are you still doing for your mother, as a 40 year old woman, so to make her happy/ proud of you?

    anita

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by .
    #367147
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    The emptiness I feel is unexplainable to say

    I am a divorcee ,I do not have children but in a relationship with a happily married man, who is ten years younger having two kids and who is extremely devoted to his parents and family.

    I was staying in the same house along with my mother but moved to a different location a year back.

    As a child I would say I almost did everything that my mother would ask me to do like she always wanted me to learn dance and despite me being a very shy person and disliking dance I used to attend the classes. She was never satisfied with my academic performance for which I used to put in extremely long hours of study though the performance never improved. I never selected my clothes to wear as she always felt I dress inappropriately so it was easier for me to just allow her select clothes for me. Honestly slowly I developed a habit of doing the opposite of what she asked me to do and anything she ask me to do I would react with a negative answer.

    Presently I would say I do not do anything for her approval but the only reason I felt I moved for work out of work was that she would be happy/proud of me as I am able to do something for myself on my own without depending on her.

    Amrita

     

    #367159
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    You wrote this about what I believe to be your strongest motivation as a child: “I wanted her to feel and show that she is happy/ proud of me”- you most intensely needed and wanted your mother to feel that she is happy that you are her daughter, that she thinks of you as a valuable part of her life, someone she is proud of. You needed her to feel these things.

    You did everything you could to make her feel this way about you: you were shy, didn’t really want to dance in front of people, but she wanted you to dance (and you wanted more than anything that she will be proud of you), so you joined dance classes.

    She wanted you to perform well academically, so you “put in extremely long hours of study”.  She wanted you to wear certain clothes, so you wore them.

    But all your efforts failed: your mother was still unhappy with you, still not proud of you, “she was never satisfied”. After so many efforts, so much time, frustrated, you reacted angrily at the woman who will not give you what you need, no matter how hard you tired and for how long: “slowly I developed a habit of doing the opposite of what she asked me to do and anything she asked me to do, I would react with a negative answer”.

    As an adult, you got married, divorced, no children, and lived with your mother, in the same house until a year ago, when you were 39. At 40, you moved out of the house so that “she would be happy/ proud of me as I am able to do something for myself on my own without depending on her”.

    In my life, as a child and as an adult I needed and wanted more than anything that my mother will be happy, and that she will be happy that I am in her life, that she will look at me with pleasure and affection on her face. I did all that I could (as little as is objectively possible for a child to do),  but all that I could do-  wasn’t good enough for her. She kept on and on and on, complaining to me how I was not what she wanted. Over time I became very, very angry at her, for not wanting me.

    For decades I believed that she didn’t want me or like me because I was unworthy, lacking, defected. You mentioned dancing: I used to daydream that I was an internationally known dancer, dancing in front of large audiences and broadcasted on TV all over the world, people everywhere cheering, clapping hands, in awe of my dancing.

    If I received this one person’s smile (my mother’s), a smile that expressed to me that she approved of me- I wouldn’t be daydreaming of millions of people vocally and enthusiastically approving of me. These daydreams express how intensely a child needs her mother’s approval when not receiving it for so long, when chasing it and never getting it. A child figures: she has to achieve something BIG (ex., international fame) so to finally get her mother’s approval.

    You wrote: “The emptiness I feel is unexplainable to say”- this emptiness led me, as an adult, to make so many wrong choices, robbing me from opportunities to live a functional life that made sense. This emptiness was my misery.

    You wrote that you (40) are in a relationship with a man (30) who is married to another woman, a “happily married man.. having two kids who is extremely devoted to his parents and family”- do you mean that you are okay with this relationship because it doesn’t take away from his wife and children?

    anita

    #367201
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    I am not Okay with the relationship ,and this was also one of the reasons for me moving away as we worked in the same office.

    He was very clear right from the start of the relationship that he would never leave his family and if he had to choose between me and his family he would always choose his family only.

    I am always in guilt due to this relationship. There were many situations where in he always doubted me and has hurt me but I always end up going back to him.

    Many occasions I have decided that I should tell it to him that I want to end it because at the end of the day I feel too exhausted with these thoughts of where have I gone wrong in this relationship or what did I do today that he has not spoken to me or has not texted me..as its a long distance one presently

    Honestly I even don’t understand what this relationship gives me whether I feel wanted and loved to whom I mean the whole world or whether it is that me ,like I would not to be in a committed relationship.

    Amrita

    #367217
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    You described a married man and father who has or has had a romantic/ sexual relationship with a woman who is not his wife, as a man who is “extremely devoted to his parents and family”- I don’t think that he is a devoted husband or a devoted father, let alone extremely devoted. If and when his wife finds out, she would be very upset, and in turn, his children will be very upset, seeing their mother upset. A devoted husband and father does not unnecessarily endanger the mental health of his wife and children.

    “it’s a long distance one presently”- so you don’t get together with him anymore since you moved, or do you still get together with him, only not as often?

    “Honestly I even don’t understand what this relationship gives me, whether I feel wanted and loved to whom I mean the whole world, or whether it is that me, like I would not be in a committed relationship”- I didn’t understand part of the sentence, can you re-write this sentence, and elaborate on it? (And.. did he tell you that you “mean the whole world” to him?)

    anita

    #367233
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    Yes a long distance one presently,

    ie I don’t meet him often in person

    but I do remain in contact with him over

    calls or texts.I would say the frequency

    of this  would be a call once a week and

    if he is extremely busy it once in 15days

    or even a month. I never initiate a call

    or message from my end it is always from

    his end.We do meet up may be once

    for half a day or a day every six months.

    The statement I made in regard to not understanding what I feel with him is

    that if  you ask me what is that I get

    being with him or from this relationship

    is that I know understand that this

    particular relationship actually will

    never be a one that would last long as

    he has made it very clear that he

    would always choose his family over me

    but I am still in the relationship.He never

    has said that I mean a lot to him or I am

    his world ..but yes he would always say that

    i trust and love u a lot don’t break the trust

    I have in you..

    hope I was able to clarify what I meant

    to say…

    incase you still feel I am a bit unclear

    do let me know….

    Amrita

     

    #367238
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    Thank you for inviting me to let you know when I need clarification of what you meant to say. I offer you the same: if you are not clear about anything I write to you, let me know.

    So, this relationship is long distance and infrequent, a call once a week or once in 15 days or even a month. You never initiate the calls. You meet every six months for half a day or a day.

    You clarified that you understand that this relationship will not last long, that he will never leave his family so to be with you. And you shared that “he would always say that I trust and love you a lot, don’t break my trust in you”. By trust, he means that he trusts you to not tell his family about the relationship?

    I wonder.. what is it about him/ the way he treats you that you like so much?

    anita

    #367263
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    Yes,I never initiate calls or texts anything

    only with the one thing in mind that

    What if his wife sees it or what if any other

    of his family member comes across it.

    I feel what he means by trust here is that
    if I feel and want to go into another relationship

    I should tell him about it !!

    I do suffer from general anxiety and have

    extremely low self esteem .At times where I am

    am in guilt I end up closing my self down

    like avoid talking or replying his message

    ,this is when he feels that I am straying out

    of the relationship and repeatedly asks me

    if I am in a relationship with some one

    else .
    See I always felt him being devoted to his

    family as even after being in a relationship

    with me ,he went ahead along with his wife

    planning a second pregnancy..

    what do I like or love about him?is where i

    really don’t understand because I never feel that intense longing for him but yes I am happy

    when he is by my side and when he is not

    judging me!!

    Amrita

     

     

     

    #367285
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    “I feel what he means by trust here is that if I feel and want to go into another relationship I should tell him about it!!… repeatedly asks me if I am in a relationship with someone else”- he wants you to only be with him (one man), while he is with his wife and with you (two women, maybe more).

    You shared in your various posts  that you suffer from feeling unwanted, from unexplainable emptiness, and from “general anxiety and.. extremely low self esteem”.

    You wrote about this relationship: “There were many situations where he always doubted me and has hurt me but I always end up going back to him… at the end of the day I feel too exhausted with these thoughts of where have I gone wrong in this relationship or what did I do today that he has not spoken to me or has not texted me.. what do I like or love about him? .. I really don’t understand because I never feel that intense longing for him, but yes I am happy when he is by my side and when he is not judging me!!”-

    – As to why you are with him, it probably has to do with what you mentioned, that extreme low self esteem. When a woman thinks so little of herself, feeling of such low value, feeling unwanted, then she feels good when wanted by anybody, doesn’t matter whom, as long as someone wants her, in some way.

    There is something else: “He doubted me and has hurt me but I always end up going back to him.. where have I gone wrong in this relationship.. has not spoken to me.. judging me“-

    – hasn’t this been also your experience with your mother: she doubting you, hurting you, not speaking to you, judging you? And did you not wonder, as a child, where you have gone wrong in the relationship with her/ what you have done wrong.. and did you not end up going back to her, living with her at 39, a year ago?

    anita

     

    #367298
    Amrita
    Participant

    Hi Anita,

    Yes, u are right as a child I did wonder

    where have I gone wrong or what is that

    I should do so that my mother is happy with

    me!!and honestly even today it is the same

    case I still think about whatever decision I

    make if my mother is with me will she approve

    or appreciate the decision or what will I

    answer /reason if she says she does not like

    it .

    The same with him I guess ,but yes there

    not been a single text or call where in

    he texts or says something that later

    When I think over hurts me !!
    but the moment I calm down with the

    thoughts i again go back to the same cycle

    of talking and liking him!!

    what are the ways I could stop getting repeatedly in the same cycle!!

    I understand that if I don’t change myself

    it’s troubling me!!!but all I learn to do is

    adjust along with the pain but unable to

    break!!

    Amrita

    #367301
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Amrita:

    It is natural for any child to want her mother to be happy with her, so no wonder you too, wanted your mother happy with you. It is also  natural for a child, when her mother is not happy with her, to wonder what she did wrong and what she should do different to make her mother happy, so no wonder you too wondered the same thing.

    “even today it is the same case, I still think about whatever decision I make if my mother is with me, will she approve or appreciate the decision or what will I answer/ reason if she says she does not like it”-

    – notice you wrote “if my mother is with me”- but she is with you, unfortunately: she lives inside your brain, in that space in between your two ears. There you still chase her for approval; there, you still hope that she will be happy with you; there you have conversations with her.

    “The same with him I guess… (he) hurts me!! but the moment I calm down.. I again go back to.. liking him!! What are the ways I could stop getting repeatedly in the same cycle!! I understand that if I don’t change myself it’s troubling me!! But all I learn to do is adjust along with the pain but unable to break!!”-

    – here is the key problem: “unable to break!!”- unable to break away from your mother, and from this man.

    Imagine your mother no longer living in your brain, imagine no longer wanting her approval, no longer caring that she was not happy with you. Imagine not talking to her anymore, in your head. Imagine that you finally believe that she was not happy with you not because there was something wrong with you, but because there was something wrong with her.. if you can imagine these things- this is what it would be like if you mentally broke away from your mother.

    If you manage to accomplish the very difficult challenge of mentally breaking away from your mother, it would be so easy, in comparison, to break away from this man.

    I was very much trapped with my mother in my head, and I will be glad to help you over time, in any way I can, here on your thread, with this very difficult challenge.

    anita

     

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by .
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