A guest describes being removed from their family as a child and placed with multiple couples, losing their sense of self. They recount three major depressive episodes and rebuilding their identity after their father's death, using trauma as a foundation for growth rather than a ceiling.
I heard you say the trauma becomes a springboard, but you have to use it the right way. And then you followed it up by saying our gifts and our trauma are woven in together. How you've gone about doing that. Because I think for so many men, whether they have trauma or pain or they just can't stand themselves, they just really fucking hate themselves. And that's a hard thing to walk around in the world with. How are you supposed to love somebody or let yourself be loved by them when you feel fundamentally unworthy of that?
So I got like plucked up from like my whole family and I got sent away and I stayed with multiple couple families. I really lost myself. I lost the idea of self that I was given. Until you unpack and repack it, you don't know yourself. I'm not your emotions, they're not your thoughts, they're not your aspirations. That's what society, friends, family comparison. That's what that has told you to think and want. I went through different awakenings in my life. My dad passed away. I've only went through depression three times in my life. That was really defining for me. I questioned everything I had to rebuild and allow the most how to deal with my heart.
How to Raise Strong, Unshakable Boys in Today's Culture, with Dr. Shefali Tsabary
