Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Let’s talk Daddy Issues. For a while now, I’ve wanted to post a photo of my parents and title the blog post “A Photo of Everyone I’ve Ever Dated.” I’m not sure about that exact approach, but I’m definitely going to write a post about dating versions of our parents soon because it’s one of those things where once you make the connection, your relational life is never the same.
Since it’s Father’s Day today, this whole week I’ve been thinking about my own daddy issues, how they’ve affected me, why they’ve haunted me for so long, and really, why I even had such deep daddy issues in the first place. I have a Dad who was consistently present growing up. He was never abusive and we have incredible memories together.
Daddy issues aren’t something that’s only reserved for women with absentee, abusive (emotionally or physically) or disloyal fathers.
Daddy issues are just as prevalent in women who have a Dad that was and is present.
Why? Let’s find out.
First off, what are Daddy Issues?
When it comes to girls with daddy issues…
If you’re attracted to emotionally unavailable and/or narcissistic men, you most likely have daddy issues. You subconsciously attract (and are attracted to) men that highlight any unresolved issues that you have in both the relationship and/or lack thereof, with your Father or a significant male figure from your childhood. This can quickly become an addictive pattern. It creates an illusory feeling of comfort due to the familiarity but also, it creates an underlying feeling of dis-ease in your relationships (which is why you’re always giving and trying to be “good enough”).
You never feel like it’s the “right” relationship unless you’re feeling insecure, competitive, and jealous; like you have something to “chase after” and “prove.” You gravitate toward relationships that “keep you on your toes,” instead of relationships that are mutual, meaningful, and solid.
15 signs that you may have Daddy Issues
(I’ve had/embodied every one of these at one time or another in my life)
- You don’t love yourself and because of this, you can’t implement boundaries because you always feel guilty for doing so.
If the relationship that you have with yourself sucks, your dating life can best be described as a trailer for a self-help workshop, and if you continue to have “bad luck” with men… chances are it started with the relationship (or lack of a relationship) with Dad or a significant male/paternal figure from your childhood.
- You have a really hard time trusting any guy that you’re with. You have to “screen” them.
You don’t trust because you subconsciously trusted Dad and he hurt you/didn’t meet your expectations/didn’t accept you/didn’t validate you/loved you conditionally/abandoned you/emotionally starved you, etc. This also happens if you feel like Dad didn’t protect you.
- You need validation from men. If you’re dating someone, you have this thing where you need to make it known to your boyfriend that you’re “in demand.”
You even seek the validation of other men when you’re with a good guy (which never lasts). You’re a validation junkie and can never get enough.
- Breakups aren’t just devastating for you, they’re catastrophic. They cause a ton of collateral damage and you find yourself needing to seek validation from your ex like you need to breathe oxygen.
This can result in continuing to go back to your ex (emotionally, physically, or both), sleeping with your ex, continuing to feel like you have a say in what and who he does, etc. You feel like you “own” him even after the relationship has ended. It’s like losing a family member and a lover all in one.
- You like inciting jealousy and any other reactions that display the effect that you have on men.
- In your relationships, you’re as jealous and over-protective and you try to trigger your partner into being.
- You need unreasonable levels of reassurance that “everything is alright” that you’re “good enough,” “hot enough,” and the list goes on.
- It’s hard for you to remain single.
- You’re a serial monogamist and always act like you know it all.
- You prefer to date older men. And no, that doesn’t mean you’re hitting up the local retirement home but you do like men who are older.
- You’re more comfortable seeking validation from an emotionally unavailable man than you are being with a “good guy” who validates you. No matter how much you claim to want one, good guys bore you.
- In one way or another, you were emotionally orphaned as a kid by Dad or by a significant male figure in your childhood. And you’ve been on an emotional driftwood ever since.
I didn’t acknowledge or realize this until I was well into my adulthood.
- Your Dad was around, but never really “present.” You never felt “good enough” for or truly connected to Dad.
- You have abandonment issues due to emotional or physical abandonment from Dad.
- You consistently involve yourself with emotionally unavailable and narcissistic men.
My parents got divorced when I was very young. The time that I was able to spend with my Father was subsequently minimized. So, every time I saw my Dad, he was just trying to make the most out of the day. And as great as that was, it disallowed a certain realness and connectivity that would have been there if I was able to see him and live with him on a daily basis. Dad and I didn’t really get into the heavy stuff because we just wanted to enjoy our day.
As I got older, this led to me going after guys who were emotionally disconnected. I had become emotionally unavailable myself and I still battle my reverse narcissism to this day. I made everyone’s bad and hurtful behavior about me not being good enough. And I failed to let people own their own behavior and decisions because I couldn’t own my own.
My consistent pattern of being involved with emotionally unavailable and narcissistic men came from patterns that were ingrained as a child. You don’t have to have an abusive or absentee father to have daddy issues. You could, like me, have a father who didn’t always express his emotions or you could have a father that you had to “work” to impress or notice you.
I am lucky enough to coach some of the most successful, well-known, and powerful people on this planet. And it never ceases to amaze me how quickly they regress back to their younger, eager, validation-seeking selves when Dad sends them a simple text after skating in and out of their lives (either emotionally, physically, or both) for years and years.
Do I like having my Dad’s approval and validation? Of course. But whether or not I get it doesn’t make nearly as much of a difference as having my own approval.
If your Dad had a hard time expressing his emotions, accepting you, or making you feel beautiful//accepted/capable, he was most likely emotionally unavailable and unhappy with himself and his life at the time.
No one had the perfect parent and no one will be the perfect parent. My father is very far from perfect. We are all fighting our own battles. There comes a point though when we need to realize that if a pattern exists, it’s not Dad or our boyfriend hurting us, it’s us choosing to retraumatize ourselves because that’s all we know.
We don’t know what availability or connectivity looks or feels like. And even though we may claim to want it more than anything, we’re much more comfortable in an environment of claiming to want it while being the victim of its absence.
If you’re wondering why you keep going after emotionally unavailable men, it’s because you’re chasing the familiar. Familiarity is predictable. And predictable, especially to a traumatized heart, is safe.
You convince yourself that if you can do the one thing no human will ever be able to do (make another person change out of being who they are), then THAT will invalidate Dad and de-pedestal him. It will deactivate the pain he caused, prove HIM to be wrong, and your Happily Ever After can now begin. This never happens because empathy, emotional availability, compassion, loyalty, and responsibility are things that can never be bribed, “brought out,” or instilled in anyone. You either have them or you don’t.
As little girls, we want to impress our fathers. We want them to think we are as amazing as we think they are. Dad is the first man that we ever say “I love you” to and the man who we subconsciously compare every man to – good or bad, absent or present.
With dads who are emotionally unavailable, the daughter convinces herself that if she does/is good enough, she’ll get Dad to stay/validate/love her/notice her, etc. This then sets her up with a lifetime, VIP pass for riding the toxic relationship ferris wheel. It allows her to justify making excuses, ignoring red flags, and giving multiple chances to partners who did not deserve one. She convinces herself that he will change and scares herself into the submission of believing that if she lets him go, he’ll combust into the man of her dreams with another, “better” girl.
If you have a dad who is present, celebrate him today and if you don’t have a dad, father yourself by making the promise that you’re not going to be at the end of your life years from now saying “I see it all so clearly now and I can’t go back in time. Why did I waste so much time?”
You’re never going to be at the end of your life one day, wishing that you got hurt and devalued more.
You’re never going to wish that you kept putting yourself in the emotional line of fire.
You’re never going to regret getting off the toxic relationship ferris wheel and you’re never going to regret using your daddy issues to motivate you out of your dysfunction instead of keeping you immersed in the quicksand of your triggers.
Once you identify your daddy issues, you’ll be able to work toward making them a thing of the past. You’ll also be able to make sure that your future/current daughter knows that she’s enough.
If you don’t have or want kids, go find a photo of yourself as a kid and remind that little girl in the photo that she’s more than enough.
You got this.
And we’ve got each other.
Are you done with toxic relationships and ready to attract (and be attracted to) healthy relationships? Do you want to connect with others on a deeper level than the comments below? Click here to become an Emotional Mastery Member and learn more. If you’re looking for more personalized, one-on-one help, you can work directly with Natasha Adamo here.
Natasha. This was exactly what I needed. You are a healer and I hope you know that your doing God’s work. Thank u!
Natasha. I just got out of a relationship with a truly despicable man for whom I dropped every boundary that I ever thought I had, subjected myself to and accepted from him everything you have described in your posts. Right now, I am ashamed, humiliated, angry, desperate for relief and sad that I have wasted my whole life by not recognizing that I fit the description of a reverse narcissist. I have wasted my life on bad relationships, affairs, accepting emotionally unavailable men into my world and breaking up with the good ones because I need validation from other people (mostly men) to make me feel worthwhile/beautiful/wanted/excited/alive. This last relationship broke me. He was a reflection of the self-destructiveness and negative feelings I have towards myself. I came to your website looking for answers and when I read your posts on narcissists and Daddy Issues my whole world blew up.
I was married once when I was 21. Lasted a year. I never had kids or married again but had several long term relationships and in every single one of them I cheated when someone I thought of as superior to me wanted into my pants/made me feel sexy and beautiful/told me what a great person I was. I work in a male dominated industry and am pretty successful in it, financially independent and still physically attractive. But I am 48 now, had a heart attack last year (few people know about it and to look at me you can’t even tell that I have health issues). I am afraid that my time is running out and that nobody will want me if they knew my whole story. I’ve always seen myself as a strong, successful, progressive, attractive, independent woman. Not so much huh? I know this is why I allowed a truly bad guy to destroy me and everything I thought I was.
I don’t know what to do now. My family does not ever ever ever talk about anything of substance. My dad was a functional alcoholic who would go on benders every weekend. He would come home and him and my mom would have EPIC fights that would end in one of two ways: either he would pass out on the bathroom floor after puking his guts out or he would lock himself in the 2nd bedroom with a closet full of hunting rifles and scare my mom to the point of catatonia. I was the one who had to try and protect my little brother and do everything I could to keep the peace and prevent anyone from doing anything to trigger his anger.. Next day?? Life would go on as if nothing ever happened. If anything was ever said (and that was a big IF) it was my mom making excuses and telling us that he is a good man that works hard and supports his family so we should all make allowances for his behavior.
My question to you Natasha is this: what happens when a woman IS the exception to the rule?
When I was 16, after a huge fight and having to call my aunt and uncle and an ambulance for my mom (who was in full blown catatonia on the couch) I had a blow up of my own with my father. When he was sober the next day we had an epic fight. I snapped. I screamed at him that he wasn’t a good father, he wasn’t my father, I had no respect for him because he is a drunk, he is an asshole and that I no longer wanted to be a part of the family. This, coming from me?? The peacekeeper good little girl do everything anyone asks and always avoid confrontation me? It was shocking.
He Stopped Drinking!
No more benders, no more fights. He quit cold turkey. My mom and him are still together, married now 45 years. We have NEVER NEVER NEVER talked about ANY of this as a family. Life just went on. I think they have tried to make it up to me by being overly involved in my life and always being available if I ever needed anything. My mom wants me to find a man because she doesn’t want me to be alone in the second half of my life.
So, if I was good enough to change my father when his own wife couldn’t do it, why am I not good enough to change someone I love into a decent human being??
Hi Stephanie!
Thank you so much for sharing.
I wish that I could elaborate further and answer your questions, but I have too much to say to type it all out not enough hands to type or hours in the day. I would also need more details.
Thanks for your love, for reading and for your understanding. Keep coming back here to the blog.
I do offer one-on-one coaching if you’re interested and would be happy to help further ? The link to it is on the homepage.
All my love to you soul sister.
You’re not alone xo
This is everything ????? Thanks for making what would have been a painful day, so much happier ?
Thank you sister! Today was a rough day-but I’m managing and taking care of the little one. I’ve even started to set BOUNDARIES with other people and have stopped accommodating ? Say whaaaat? I love you and can’t wait to tell you more soon ?- Diane
Love you too! Proud of you soul sis! xx
Thank you so much for this Catherine, this made me cry!! Love you sister 🙂 xo
Completely on point again. Not only did I leave my relationship with an emotionally unavailable man I had to face my own trauma with my father. It has been a hard 5 months of self relflection and understanding my “compulsive repetition” pattern. I couldn’t have gotten this far in my healing without my therapist and you!!! I now have all ends covered! Haha! Thank you Natasha..you really are a blessing.
I’m so glad that it helped! You’re doing all the right things. Thanks so much for the love and support Tan 🙂 xoxo
Natasha, thank you. I stumbled upon your posts at EXACTLY the time I needed to. Especially the relationship and emotional unavailability articles. I’ve read a lot of articles (prior to yours) and talked to a lot of people trying to figure out what the hell was going on in my fairy tale relationsh*t and within myself, and have gotten no where but more confused and defeated. You have been the one to provide truth and clarity and a guidance on how to move forward. Thank you so much for sharing your life and wisdom. I hope you know how much you are appreciated. Thank you! ?
You’re going to make me cry. Thank YOU so much Eve! 🙂 You are loved, supported, back and believed in. XOXO
Brought me to tears and empowered me all at once.
I knew the what and why in a very foggy state; you pulled me out of that fog and gave me clarity, and now I am all the more ready and anxious to break this toxic pattern, embark on the road to forgiveness and move forward.
Your words speak truth and they heal!
Eternally grateful,
S
Sammi, you brought me to tears. Thank you very much 🙂 I’m so happy it helped! You are believed in, supported & never alone. All my love to you. xo
Thank you so much for writing this article…it has given me that extra push to go ahead and seek out a counsellor for my issues. At 22,I need to break the cycle now if I’m ever going to have a good relationship with anyone.
Thanks again,
X
I’m so happy that it served you. You are believed in, loved, supported and never alone. Thanks June! xx
In my 2nd therapy session, she told me “you have screaming Daddy issues”. I responded with, “I do not. I have issues with my mother who defined my relationship with my father because he wasn’t in my life”. Then later I googled “do i have daddy issues?” and then I found this and you. I do have Daddy issues. Your words “your dad is the first man you say I love you to”, really hit home with me because I never got to say I love you to my father and I was 7 years old before I had a step dad that I could say it to and he didn’t say it back. Now, I understand why I said “i love you” to every single guy I dated (and probably frightened). I am also beginning to understand why I’ve chosen the people I’ve wasted so much of my time with. They were all my normal.
I’m working thru a devastating break-up. He didn’t break up with me…why would you end a relationship with a bottomless ATM with no rules or limitations? I ended it for me and am single for the first time in my adult life (i’ll be 52 on my birthday).
Forever grateful for having found your blog and will continue to use your words to fill my brain with your spot on affirmation. Horses always bite me but I’m gonna stay on my white horse despite my fear! Love & Hugs!!
Omg, your comment about being a bottomless ATM with no rules or limitations really hit home. I used to think he really loved me and that things would get better.
Then I realized he was just comfortable and didn’t want to disturb the status quo.
I randomly came across this blog and let me tell you, you made me understand so many things about myself. I needed to read this. Blessings xoxo
Hi Cierra!
I’m so happy that the blog has helped and am honored to have played a part in your healing and realizations. Thank you for the love and support. All my love to you soul sister 🙂 xo
All my life I’ve been lost, hating myself, thinking I’m not good enough, not pretty enough, not worth any love of any kind, I’ve had a string of “bad luck” with men and used reverse narcissism on myself to explain my bad luck. I’ve been broken, torn, abused without a way out and I’ve let this all happen because of exactly what you mentioned above, I was scared that the men I dated would move on and be better for a “better” girl, so I’d hold on tight, I dare to add I would be clingy too, break ups felt catastrophic like you said. To say the least you just described my entire life, and I’m entirely greatful to you for this closure. I have decided to break the chains, I’m currently with an emotionally unavailable man (typical right?)?but I’ve known problem now and I hope God gives me the strength to overcome it. May God bless you Natasha. You are God’s voice to me, thanks for delivering his message.
Thank YOU so much for sharing <3 I'm honored to have played a part in your healing and realizations. You are loved, understood, believed in and never, ever alone. XOXO
OMG!! This totally made me see my pattern of dating emotionally unavailable men because the good ones were boring. Lol
Thank you Natasha. You are truly a blessing!
So happy it helped!! 🙂 Sending you love. XOXO
Thanks so much for this! You hit the nail on the head. I was crying over a guy and it dawned on me that I recreate my past issues with my father who had abandoned me and l hate crying over someone who is emotionally unavailable so I quickly typed in google: daddy issues and this article popped up. It took me until now-at the age of 30 -to understand why I always get involved with the wrong people and I know they don’t have what I completely need at the onset but yet because of mutual attraction and solid friendship I feel like I can help save them and make it work. But I’ve had it all wrong and I have been finally realizing this. So thank you for helping me with this epiphany!
YES!! So happy it helped 🙂 Thanks Alicea! You got this! XOXO
Hi tash, all those 15 points are screaming my name. I am currently involved with an emotionally unavailable guy who is never home, he drinks 365 days a year. we have a child together, and i also have another child from my previous relationship, he is never home, unless if he is broke, and if he is actually home , u can see how miserable he is.i can say 97% 0f his life he is out having fun with his friend and he comes home around 2am,and with the 3 % he is with us, he is moody, he brings all this negative energy in the house.i am not happy at all, and even my health is suffering , and i also developed this addiction for shopping just to fill the empty void, it works for a little while and then am back to being miserable again, i am not happy at all.i keep hoping things will change, but you cannot change a person right. As a child i always had an absent father, who was never around, who was emotionally abusive to my mother and i,who took all his pension money and took his mistress to university while i am left uneducated with only a matric certificate. your article has made me realise that i have a whole lot of work to do with regards to turning my life around, though its not gonna be an easy ride.but i am willing,
Hi Mokgaetsi! I’m so happy that the post helped 🙂 You are not alone. xoxo
Thankfully, mine only apply to one or two things on this list, and I was reminded of that while reading these comments. My dad and I don’t really communicate well, and through no fault of either of us, the line that was previously tenuous became nearly non-existent. If you don’t want to read the long rant (and please don’t feel obliged), skip to the last two paragraphs.
Recently I was going through old papers and I found a story that I wrote around 6th or 7th grade, and I realized something. I checked other stories for hints of this, and it was continually there. I have always written my stories with characters who have cold, detached or antagonistic fathers. This helped me realize that maybe it wasn’t just a stage I was going through. The fact that it affected me so subconsciously as a child is a sure-fire way of knowing that there was always a disconnect between me and him, even in the “good old days” where he didn’t have an important job.
Coincidentally, most of those stories also had a ray of sunshine mother who was creative, vibrant, and the main character’s protector who wouldn’t let the father do anything bad if she could help it. This is why I’m mostly mentally healthy today. My mom was not just half the pillars, but all of the ones that held my childhood up.
I’m a senior now, and so though probably not as experienced as the rest of you, I’ve gotten gradually more aware of him. I’ve realized my dad is uncomfortable in most social situations around people he doesn’t have any connection with or doesn’t know well, that he likes video games, but is also a born leader and can organize and execute with the best. I can greet my dad with a nervous smile and follow his orders without complaint, and I can even work together with him on something, but I can’t hold a conversation yet. This is partly because I feel like I have to impress him so I only mention successes, and partly that after I share them, he follows up with a warning to make sure to keep up with everything.
Any advice on working up the courage to hold a conversation with him? It would be much appreciated. Thanks so much for writing this, and I hope everyone can hang in there!
You are so incredibly wise beyond you years. I’m happy that the post helped 🙂 Thank you for sharing.
I wish that I had the time to advise, but I have too much to say and not enough hands to type or hours in the day. I would also need more details.
Thank you for your understanding, your love, support, and for being a part of this tribe. Keep coming back here to the blog – you are never alone Arxmuse. XX
my dad was around but he was’nt around he was always drinking and taking pills, so i’m sitting here wondering how i can move on from my ex who was also never there and stop texting this guy who is 13 years my senior and be happy and independent and stop acting like a i need a guy when the truth is i don’t, and i don’t know how long ago this was posted but i hope i might get to hear back from you.
Hi Hailey! I can definitely understand. I have too much to say to type it all out and now enough hands to type or hours in the day. I would also need more details.
Make sure to remember – Your triggers are not your truth. Know when you are dating different versions of your Dad and opt out of the emotional incest. You are not alone. Keep coming back here to the blog.
All my love to you sister. xoxo
Hi Natasha I enjoyed reading Daddy issues: 15 signs you may have them and why. All my life since I can remember I have had and still do.I have lo w self esteem and not worthy. My parents divorced when I was 2 years old. I am now 52 still feeling the same. Me and my Dad are still not close, we never have been. After his 2nd marriage failed he married again to who is now my stepmother. I don’t remember how old I was but still young. When I fist met her and her daughter I had a sick feeling about it. I guess I was maybe 6 or 7 years old. He has really never shows emotions he has short man syndrome. He has to always be right. Pretty much a bully, and my stepmother I believe is a narcissist. It has been a nightmare. Everything you have said Iam going g through. I have got to stop this negative thinking I have which is not worthy, I am never good enough, etc etc. I take mediation for depression and anxiety. I am getting worse. I don’t not have medical Insurance and do not have a job. Therefore I can’t find or pay for counselling. I do know that I have to reprogram my brain, but soon feel overwhelmed when I think k about this. I don’t know where to Stuart. Thank you again for giving g me Insight of what I have dealt with most of my life, it make sense now. God Bless you and hope to hear from you soon.
Hi Sheila! Thank you 🙂 I’m happy that the posted helped. Keeping coming back here to the blog – you are never alone. Sending you love. xo
Wow. Just…wow. I keep pinning your articles to my “Healing and Recovery” board (ex-husband cheated on me and we divorced last year) on Pinterest because they are SO GOOD. I know I have daddy issues – I spent my college years seeking affection from men because I never got it from my distant and emotionally unavailable father. While my relationship with my dad has improved dramatically in the last 5-10 years, I still have those issues. I married a man just like my father – and it was 18 years of hell. Now that I’m back in the dating world again, I see that I am still attracted to the familiar, and I’m trying like heck to get out of this vicious cycle. Your post helped me tremendously. You write incredibly well, and I’m so glad I found your blog. Thank you, thank you.
Thank YOU Melissa – for your love, connection, support, and for being a part of this tribe 🙂 I am so happy and honored to help.
You are never alone. All my love to you soul sister. xx
This speaks volumes to me. I now know that my own childhood legacy can do me a very good service by showing me what I no longer want to be, and behave like, ever again. Thank you Natasha, dear. <3
So happy it helped! 🙂
OMG… Thank you so much for posting this wise article. I am in the mid-30s and I always knew I like a certain type of guys but never knew that I had a daddy issue. I have a dad but he went to oversea to work since I was 5. I remember I was crying for days and begging him not to leave us. He continued that life (going back and forth) until I graduate from college. Although I wanted him to stay with us so bad, my parents are separated and we don’t see/talk to each other. This is really sad and I should call him more often but sadly I have nothing to say to him.
I spent half of my 20s with a severe alcoholic. He was only there for a few hours of the day but I thought he would change eventually if I try harder. That relationship has ended when I finally realized that he would never be sober. Now I am in a different relationship and this one isn’t abusive but he is emotionally unavailable. We’ve been together for over a year now but he has never opened up himself about his feelings towards me. I started to think that maybe I’ve been nagging. Then I started to search for relationship advice and accidentally found your blog. I feel so much better now b/c now I know what my issue is. The problems I have with this guy was not in him was in me. I know it is going to be tough but I will try to love myself more than I love them. Thank you again. xo
Hi Eunice!
Thank YOU so much for your love, connection, support, for sharing, and for being a part of this tribe 🙂
You are never alone. xox
Another life-changing post!
My father was available, I would say, he was TOO available for me the whole time! He was overprotective and too focused on making me “a perfect” person that I was never able to build my own identity. He told me who I was and never let me figure that out for myself. Anything less then perfection was not enough. I was scared and did not know how to set up boundaries. It was like an emotional and physical prison. I remember the endless cry-marathons in my room, the passive aggression and the helplessness..My life turned to be all about pleasing him and looking for validation – if I don’t make him happy-I’m worthless….
Later on I had social difficulties- I was obsessed with the fear that someone out there might not like me or approve me as a person.
Then all this transformed into unhealthy relationships with men, one after another – I was looking for validation, my insecurities and neediness were pushing them away- even though I was doing my best to please them in any possible way (as though I did with my father). Every breakup was catastrophic for me!
I’m so glad I found your blog now, I wish I did earlier. I’m working on self- love and I will never again let anyone treat me as a doormat!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me find myself, Natasha!!
So happy that this posts have helped! 🙂 Thank you for being a part of this tribe Geri! I love, look forward to, and appreciate every one of your comments. xox
I have no words to describe how so very much you’re appreciated! I’ve already printed out a couple of your articles and made them like tiny “books”- they are my daily antidepressant, I’m serious.
I have found so many different things here and there in google, also true and helpful, I’ve paid for e-books, but there’s nothing like your work, really! Your articles are so systematic, so strong and influential. Striking. Penetrating. Life-changing!
Everyone nowadays is talking about self-love, self-respect, etc, but no one really says HOW to get there, how to swim back to the land.
YOU DO, Natasha! And you do it in the most touching way…
Millions of hearts for you! ??????????????????
Thank you Natasha for writing this blog. You help me realize that I can’t force someone to feel empathy or compassion towards others. My dad is a cold and distant man who lacks empathy for others and is short-tempered. Obviously, I don’t have a close relationship with my dad. But I do have a close relationship with my older brother, whose personality a complete opposite of my dad. He’s a responsible young man that is relaxed and easygoing most of the time. And I find men whose personality is similar to my brother’s very attractive. So now, I will begin to heal and stop being attracted to men who are cold and distant like my father. Once again, thank you Natasha and have a wonderful day!?
This made me tear up. I just want to give everything that I wish I had.
Thank YOU so much, Roxanne – for taking the time to comment and for being a part of this tribe.
You are never alone. All my love to you, soul sister. xox
Thanks for readying my comment.?
As I try to sort through my own emotional tug of war between being grateful and rooted in my present stable and committed relationship with a wonderful man who is the epitome of a ‘nice guy’- and the fantasies of emotionally unavailable lovers of the past with more exciting men- I exhaust myself. I want a stable home – for my child , and myself, and innately know that my attraction towards other men does not align with my vision. I fear I will get bored. But I also fear that the ‘exciting unattainable one(s)’ will never step up to the level that I have with my present partner.
I will write more about this soon ♥️ Please know that you’re not alone in this. It takes time to learn how to be attracted to what is GOOD FOR YOU instead of that triggers you into trying to be good enough. All my love to you, Lola. Xo
I feel like you have written a short story about my life! I can relate to this so much, it’s sad really. I have come out the other side and have been settled with my current partner now for 8 years but the ‘daddy issues’ had serious consequences for my life and my family. I have tried to forgive my father for abandoning me when I was 12, some days I think I have and others I look back and feel hate. I ended up in a toxic relationship and I kept running back, he abused me, made me feel worthless and then took my two children from me. Long story short I have a huge gaping hole in my heart that is always there in the background. I stopped blaming myself though and I realise my decisions were poor in my early life, everything that followed was like a domino effect of bull****. But I finally met someone, a great man who showed me love and kindness and put me first, he is healing my broken heart. He has given me two gorgeous children and the family life I never had before. I feel awake now! Thank you for making me feel like I am not so alone in these feelings and experiences.
You are not alone Gemma. Thank you for taking the time to share and for being a part of this tribe. I’m so glad that this post was helpful.
And that you for giving me the gift of confirmation that I was/am never alone in my thoughts, insecurities, feelings, experiences, and circumstances.
All my love to you and your beautiful family. xx
Hi Natasha, very helpful article and it helped me understand about myself a lot. I met this Indian guy online usually I do not date guys like him who are shy and introvert. But I had a series od bad relationships so I thought give it a try. We started two years back when he was in India. We spoke for six months straight then I arranged a job for him in Miami. It took two months but he was finally here and I was very happy to see him in person. We spent six wonderful months with before I pushed him away for many reasons that I now know. I broke his heart many times and belittled him every possible way. I cheated on him multiple times because of my own insecurities. After I told him about second affair he was heartbroken and I was very manupulative and always blamed him for every thing. He was there for me every time when needed. I had very restrictive relationship with my father, he never loved me or my mother. Left us when I was 10 years old. I guess I always pushed good men away. This Indian guy his name is Nikhil the way I treated him really broke my heart. Three months back I had a very bad arugument with him and said some words which I cant take it back after the argument, he went outside said I need some air and he never came later I got call from police that he was hit by a car and a week later he passed away. Since then I not able to sleep at night. I blame myself fot his death. I can’t forget his face when he first met me at the airport. I do not know how to deal with it. I always scared that he would leave me for some other woman. I worst part was he knew about my parental issues and he was very patient with me. He never tried to change and control me in any way. I work in a very male dominant company and successfully moved up in the ladder. He liked my friends and family and they loved im very much. Now friends and family do not speak with me after knowing how I treated him and accuse me of his death. To make things worse I had couple of one night stand but during sex I keep thinking about him. I do not know what to do, I think Iwas in love with him, every time I see his pictures I cry a lot.
Lexi,
I am so deeply sorry for your loss and everything you’re going through. Please seek professional help if needed. I’m so glad that this post helped; thank you for taking the time to share and for your connection and love. I wish I had the time to advise and respond in depth but I can’t in the comments. My coaching will open back up in a few weeks and I would be so happy and honored to help further. All my love to you, sister xxo
I will also try to write more about this soon. I have been in your shoes – it was a different circumstance but I was unable to say goodbye to someone who died suddenly that I didn’t treat as well as I should have. You are not alone ♥️