You have learned to shut down your emotions and learn to not trust them because it was engrained in you that feelings were a sign of weakness or a nuisance. The more you avoided your feelings, the more you feel disconnected with yourself. You have difficulty being intimate and being vulnerable with others. You are viewed by your partner or friends as someone who is cold, distant and overly independent.

Or you might have learned at a young age that since your parents were inconsistent and unpredictable, you needed to cope by attaching your identity to others. You are overly dependent on others and have difficulty doing things on your own and finding sense of independence. You might be viewed by others as someone who is needy, clingy and dependent.

If you have found yourself here, you may be someone who is currently struggling with anxiety issues, stress, depression, low self-esteem and self-worth, or having relationship issues. These are issues that come from somewhere and are often linked to our past childhood upbringing. To better understand and manage our struggles now, we must first understand the relationship between our past and how it affects us in the present.