The next morning, I start filling him—and me—with the things I needed but never had as a child. When I have a negative thought about myself, I gently replace it with a positive truth. When I make a mistake, I forgive myself. When I’m too thin-skinned or thick-skinned, I gently guide myself back into moderate reality. And when I regress, I silently soothe myself as if teaching a child not to be afraid of the dark. Just as I told Anne to be a good mother to herself, I’m reparenting myself. It’s somewhat pathetic that at this age, I need to properly learn how to be an adult. But if the problems I
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