Book Excerpt
EMbrACING YOUR EGGSHELLS Real-Life Wisdom for Adult Children by Dr. Jenna T. Bray
Page 16
What is an adult child? An adult child is any adult who has grown up in a dysfunctional or toxic home environment where the primary caregiver could not fulfill the child’s need for love, stability, or safety.
As an adult child, you likely grew up feeling unsafe. Your house was always tumultuous, the love of your parents uncertain. The trauma you experienced as a child continues to play out in your adult relationships. Even when you are aware of such patterns, you find yourself engaging in the same roles of your childhood—you acquiesce, you feel guilty standing up for yourself, you have a need for extreme perfectionism—all in an effort to prove that you are worthy of the parental love that was withheld from you as a child.
You deserve to be with people who bring out the softness in you. You deserve to be in relationships where you are safe, where you have clear boundaries, and they are respected. You deserve to be in relationships where your needs are met. But first, you must untangle the unhealthy knots that have bound you to these patterns.