At any age of life, it’s hard to admit your Mom was right. You ignore, argue with her, or dismiss her. But you know, Mom is right.
My Mom motivated me as a child to be independent and make sure I could take care of myself. She stressed the importance of having a career that would ensure always having a job, therefore always being able to cover one’s own level-one Maslow’s hierarchy (food, shelter). This piece of advice I took, and am ever so grateful that I did. I am a nurse. I will always have a job (if I have a license). I may not like the job, but I’ll be able to eat, have housing, buy clothes, etc. as long as I am able to do the work.
Mom tells me that, “if you are able to do something yourself, you should do it. You are the only person YOU can really count on.” Again, she’s right. There are amazing people that have helped me in dire situations, people I can call on if I need anything. But, at the end of the day, as I’m struggling to keep it together through overwhelming personal chaos, Mom is right. Only I can deal with this, and I just need to do it.
My Mom doesn’t trust people. She’s got a lot of damn good reasons for this and I don’t blame her one bit. This is the advice I’m not good at following. I trust people with information they misinterpret or share my secrets to only have them exploited. I’m slowly learning, again, Mom is right. Oh sure, you’re already arguing with me on this one, but why? Because deep down you know, Mom is right. Even your most trusted significant other will betray you in the right situation. We lie to ourselves that we can and should trust people, but we shouldn’t. Trust too is something that you can only rely on yourself for, you can rely on you.
Thank you Mom for all of your advice. I love you.
Ask Angela 