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anita.
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April 16, 2026 at 8:53 am #457015
ZenithParticipantTo be gentle to myself and let go of people who hurt me.
April 16, 2026 at 9:19 am #457017
anitaParticipantGood morning, Zenith:
To be gentle to yourself, and empathetic. Maybe have the image of Zenith-the-girl đ§ in your mind and think of yourself as her mother.
If she (the girl Zenith) feels hurt, what do you do?
Talk to her, ask her to tell you what’s inside her, validate her feelings (example: ‘I can see why you feel hurt. It hurts to be ignored’), calm her, hug her (mentally, if not physically).
If she’s angry, listen to her, validate what she feels (example: ‘When we get hurt, sometimes we also get angry and want to make the other person hurt too’)
By letting go of people who hurt you- you mean no longer having contact with them, or..?
đ§ đ¤ Anita
April 16, 2026 at 10:10 am #457019
ZenithParticipantWhen I get hurt by people if they are outsiders i let go of them.
If its my sister or brother I set a boundary with them. I remember in 2024 when my brother was being disrespectful I yelled at him because he said something to me that was mot acceptable.
I dont know why I am so scared of my MIL.As my husband is very close to my MIL and he doesnt say a word to his mum or set boundaries with her.
I think my husband has some sort of trauma too. He never sets boundaries with parents but his elder brother is treated as king and he does whatever he wants and nobody really questions him.April 16, 2026 at 10:11 am #457020
ZenithParticipantI am planning not to go to visit India at the same time my co sister its been mentally effecting me.
April 16, 2026 at 10:45 am #457022
anitaParticipantThat’s an excellent idea, Zenith: to not visit India at the same time your co-sister is there đ
Yes, I remember you shared about him not setting boundaries with his parents. It makes sense to think that he has some sort of trauma growing up.
đ¤ Maybe his elder brother took on one role in the family (king) so, he took the opposite role because there can be only one king among siblings (don’t know, thinking out loud).
Coming to think about it further, maybe it’s his mother’s pattern: elevate some people (elder brother, one DIL) over other people (younger brother, other DIL)?
đ¤ Anita
April 16, 2026 at 12:10 pm #457026
ZenithParticipantI know thats an excellent idea but I am scared of hurting my husbands feelings. He is very close to his brother.
My MIL has lot of generational trauma.MY MIL was treated by like that by her parents. Thier parents always used to favor her younger sibling who is a son. Her mom always holds her son above her inspite of my mil taking care of her.
Her mother is very respectful to her son an dil but not to her daughter. My MIL never expresses her feeling or sets any boundaries with her mother.
She is always worried about people judging her.
What really angers me is she dumps all these generational trauma on me but my co sister doesnt have to deal with this shit. The comparison is killing me I guess.April 16, 2026 at 12:29 pm #457030
anitaParticipantb back 2 u in a few hours, Zenith
April 16, 2026 at 5:56 pm #457038
anitaParticipantI understand you not wanting to hurt your husband’s feelings. He sounds like a good man and you are good for caring to not hurt his feelings!
Why do you think your MIL dumps all this generational trauma on you and not on her other DIL?
đ¤ Anita
April 16, 2026 at 7:02 pm #457041
ZenithParticipantBecause she is the wife of eldest son.
April 16, 2026 at 7:13 pm #457043
anitaParticipantOh, I get it. She’s (the other DIL) the wife of a “king” (to her) and you are the wife of a lowly serf.. why didn’t I get it beforehand..
That’s annoying, isn’t it đ
April 16, 2026 at 8:59 pm #457047
anitaParticipantMay be annoying, Zenith- but it really says nothing about who you are as a person, and everything about her pattern of thinking and relating before she ever met you.
(These are my closing thoughts for this Thursday night đ)
Anita
April 17, 2026 at 10:29 am #457064
ZenithParticipantWhat youâre describing isnât just about your mother-in-lawâitâs a pattern your mind falls into when something touches a deeper fear: being sidelined, compared, or not valued equally. You saw a similar loop with your friend last year, and now itâs showing up here. That doesnât mean the situation is trivialâit means your brain is very sensitive to perceived imbalance in relationships, and once it locks on, it replays it.Letâs separate a few things, because right now theyâre tangled together:
1. What actually happened vs. what your mind is doing nowYour in-laws treated you generally well.There were specific moments of unequal treatment (rooms, attention, expectations).You chose to go along to avoid conflict.That last part is important: you didnât âfailââyou made a protective decision in the moment. Now your brain is rewriting it as âI should have said no,â which creates guilt and rumination.
2. The real trigger isnât the jewelry or the room
Itâs this feeling:âIâm expected to give more than I receive, and I donât feel equally respected.âThatâs a valid emotional reaction. But your response has swung to the other extreme:From people-pleasing in the moment â to self-blame afterwardFrom avoiding conflict â to mental over-attack on yourselfNeither is actually giving you control.3. Why you feel âstuckâ setting boundaries
Youâre trying to set boundaries retroactively, inside your head. That never works. Boundaries only exist in real-time behavior.Also, right now your definition of a boundary is too loaded. Youâre thinking it has to be something like:âI refuse to do thisâor âI confront her directlyâBut most healthy boundaries are much quieter and less dramatic.4. What would a realistic boundary look like here?
Not a confrontation. Something like:If she asks about jewelry â you briefly show it and move on, without over-explainingOr: âIâll show you laterâ (and maybe you donât)Or simply not volunteering information going forwardA boundary is not about fairness. Itâs about what you choose to participate in.5. About the âspecial treatmentâ imbalance
Youâre not wrong to notice itâbut trying to âcorrectâ it is where the suffering comes from.Family hierarchies (especially with elder sons, etc.) often come with built-in favoritism. You likely wonât change that dynamic. The more useful question is:âHow much do I want to emotionally invest in their approval?âRight now, itâs a lotâand thatâs why it hurts this much.6. The rumination loop (this is the part to interrupt)
Your brain is doing:Replay â âI should haveâŚâCompare â âThey got better treatmentâŚâSelf-critique â âI couldnât even set a boundaryâŚâThat loop feels productive, but itâs not solving anything. Itâs just reinforcing the anxiety.When it starts, try something very concrete:Say (mentally): âThat decision is already done.âThen redirect to a present action (even something small like washing dishes, texting someone, stepping outside)Youâre not trying to âwinâ the argument in your headâyouâre exiting it.A more honest reframe of what happened:
You were in a social situation with power dynamics. You chose harmony over conflict.
Now, with distance, you wish you had acted differently. Thatâs not weaknessâthatâs hindsight.The real shift isnât âI should have said no back then.â
Itâs:âNext time, Iâll respond a little differentlyâeven if itâs just 10% more honest.âThis is what chatgpt told me LOL. I just pasted the thread thats here from last year.
April 17, 2026 at 11:09 am #457066
anitaParticipantGood Friday, Zenith:
Thank you for pasting the above here! My goodness, ChatGPT sounds almost as intelligent as Copilot đ
To no longer try to win an argument (in your head), but to exit it đ
Yes, I agree that you’re (particularly) sensitivity to imbalances in relationships, and that family hierarchies tend to be permanent, and that the wiser choice is to set quiet boundaries rather than dramatic đ
I ditto ChatGPT đđđ
đ¤ Anita
April 17, 2026 at 12:23 pm #457071
ZenithParticipantWhy do you think I am sensitivity to imbalances in relationships ?
I know I overreact but nobody likes unfairness right ?
The other day my co sister was saying to me, that his husband gets special treatment.
Of course she doesnt obsess like me but even she doesnt like it too.April 17, 2026 at 3:31 pm #457073
anitaParticipantHey Dear Zenith:
ChatGPT said it: “That doesnât mean the situation is trivialâit means your brain is very sensitive to perceived imbalance in relationships, and once it locks on, it replays it.”-
“That doesn’t mean the situation is trivial” means that, yes, there’s unfairness. And “your brain is very sensitive” means that it bothers you more than it bothers some other people (that’s why you replay the incidents/ obsess about it).
I think of it as any other sensitivity, like many people are sensitive to bright lights đĄđĄđĄ or loud sounds đ˘ đđ˘ but not to the same extent. Some are bothered by those more than others. Others are bothered less.
đĄ đ˘ đ đ¤ Anita
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