Mike Drop: The #1 Book Recommended to Me
I get sent a lot of recommendations for videos to watch and books to read. When the same book is suggested over and over again, it catches my attention. There is a book that has been repeatedly suggested to me after I began speaking publicly about how my parents have treated me since coming out.
And the book is:
I finally started reading this book and I am being both sliced open and validated at the same time. I wanted to share a thought I had from Chapter 1. (For my more in depth response to the chapter, you can check out my podcast episode.)
The author lays out some symptoms of some emotionally immature parenting as well as the impact it can have on the child raised by said parents. One of the things I found most surprising for me was how validating some of her assertions were. Here’s an example of what I mean:
“As a human being, you can trust yourself to know when you're emotionally satisfied. You know when you've been given full measure. You aren't a bottomless pit of ceaseless demands. You can trust the inner prompts that tell you when something is missing.”
Being a sensitive person myself, I’ve received the message that I am a “bottomless pit of ceaseless demands.” Of course, this is a hurtful message to receive and quite stifling. It makes you go inward and think that your emotional needs are a problem. Gibson’s advocacy for emotional maturity was so validating in ways I didn’t realize I needed. She’s right! We know and we’ve been given full measure. We know when something’s missing. It’s such tricky business to not be inadvertently gaslit into denying our own needs when relating to emotionally immature people.
I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest of this book and bracing myself at the same time. I hope you get a chance to hear my full thoughts on my podcast!
Happy Monday,
Mike