Examining my own motivations and pathology is extremely uncomfortable, yet it seems to be all that I do, endlessly.
I want to be needed, but being needed makes me feel unbearably anxious. I want to comfort others, yet when the time comes to step up and do so, I do nothing or do the wrong thing. I try to be a kind and caring person, but I wind up saying things that are hurtful and cruel.
I have an obsession with fixing people. I find myself falling for people who my mind perceives as "damaged." My emotions become vested in their wellbeing until I take on their hurts and pains as my own. It's not a healthy way to be, for myself or the other. What I perceive as selflessness is really only selfishness. I am not a humanitarian or a helper -- I am a martyr, sure that I will be praised for throwing my life away for the sake of another.
And perhaps this wouldn't bother me if I thought I was doing real, concrete good for those I care about. But I'm not. I cannot tear off chunks of myself to complete others, I can only be incomplete with them. So why do I believe that my suffering does anyone any good? Why can't I be a supportive structure for others instead of a shaking, unstable wreck?
Am I still the little girl, then, who believes she can earn back the love of a man who chose a bottle over her? Trying to undo past mistakes, to succeed where I failed before? I blame myself for his death ... More than I care to admit. Because he didn't answer when I called him on my birthday and I was annoyed. Because he probably sat there for days before anyone found him and I never suspected a thing.
And even though I don't THINK this, I FEEL that ... If I loved him enough, if I were a good enough daughter, if I had tried harder to get him to stop drinking or stop smoking ... That everything would be fine. That he'd still be alive. Maybe even than my parents would still be together, although I can't say I particularly regret the divorce.
But I didn't try hard enough. In truth, I gave up on him. After 18 years of fighting, I decided that he was a lost cause, that I couldn't help him. And 18 years is a long time. But just how hard did I fight? How many times could I have stood up and screamed instead of passive-aggressively accepting his own self-destruction?
I sicken myself when I look at myself in this light. I hate to be reminded of how weak I am, but I continue putting myself in situations that break me because I want to change, become strong.
I need to be more selfish and less selfish. I need to say no. I am constantly in danger of abusive relationships, because I never speak out and it becomes the norm. I put others first, so they learn to put me second. And I need to believe that I am worth more than that.
But I can't. Not as I am now.