01/11/2025
Many of us are not the problem,we find the family we grew up in, the people we find ourselves around are not our tribe. We can feel like a square peg in a round hole m and no matter how much we try to fit in, it's soul destroying.
We have three primary responses to danger
Flight
Fight
Freeze
My family were all Fight. They were social animals, outgoing, success oriented, extroverts, and i was all Freeze. Try as I might to fit in, to belong, it was to hard. As a child I felt I must have been adopted or mixed up at birth. It made me feel so worthless and inferior. I was without hope.
And then one day, I can't tell you exactly how it happened, but I realized I wasn't in my tribe. One day I met people exactly like me, introverts, quiet, loners, people who lived their own privacy, who didn't suffer fools gladly and I felt like I had come home.
I learned that my feelings and emotions are my God given instincts in to be trusted at all times
If I felt uncomfortable around people out any situation and my body and mind are screaming at me to run away and hide
That's what I did and now do!
I don't think about it!
I don't ask for permission!
I don't suffer in silence!
I don't play and pretend I'm ok!
I get out of there!
I hide,
I disassociate
I shut down mentally and emotionally
I only need do any of these things for long enough to feel safe and then I return to the situation. But I now take whatever action is right for me, each and every time.
As an long as I don't harm myself or another, I can't do wrong.
As long as I do not ignore my emotions, deny my instincts and medicate my feelings, I'll be alright
You can only be you
I can only be me
I can't be my father or my brother
I can't be you
I can't be John Wayne
I can only be me
To Thine Own Self Be True
I didn't know why God created me as I was, it baffled me for most of my life.
Today I believed he created me exactly as I was, so that I would be on this platform, see your call for help, offer you some hope, and it might not be you, it might be someone else who is in a far worse place than you, and my words give them renewed hope and a reason to continue, and in years from now, one of their descendants creates a cure for cancer or aids and if it hadn't been for you post they may have given up, and the world would never have been given such a cure.
I believe I was planted in my family, not as a penance of curse, but that living experience would give me the tools to be able to help others like me, to find their tribe
You are not alone
You have a tribe waiting for you
It might be, that your tribe are gathering in here, or you might check out any of the 14 x 12 step support groups around the world. They are online and local to you
ACOA for people who come from dysfunctional homes or environments
CODA for people who have known codependency, manipulation, hostage taking and poor boundaries
ALANON for people who come from dysfunctional relationships with parents or partners
And many more
A great trip to get out of self, if to go down to your local community center, library or police station and volunteer for anything and everything
Visit orphanages
Visit old folks homes
Visit pet shelters
Meals on wheels
Tidy towns
Neighborhood watch
And then join social groups
Activities, hobbies, interests, exercise,fitness, sports clubs, gaming communities, book clubs, prayer groups, bible study, back to school, training,
Broaden your horizons
When we are not in our tribe,we can feel boxed in, but taking action, trying something new.
Everything can change
The thing is it's all down to you
No one can save you unless you are willing to save yourself
That's been my experience
I attempted to leave this family world three times
I self harmed
I suffered my past,
But today 30+ years on
I haven't. Today I AM married with two adult children attending university.(I have to pinch myself when I share that) And so much more
The first thing I did was to find my tribe.
You can do this