"Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
-- Leo Tolstoy
It is important, if you grew up in a dysfunctional family, to take time to reflect on the competitive edge it has given you. People from happy, harmonious homes may feel healthy and well adjusted, but they're fixed on one family model, which they try to emulate the rest of their lives. If you grew up in a dysfunctional family, however, you may be deeply damaged, but you've acquired a broad repertoire of negative models to outgrow. As you go about your adult life, you should thank your parents; they have given you the kind of education that happy children, through no fault of their own, never receive.
My parents taught me everything I need to unlearn.
Reprinted with permission from "Daily Afflictions" by Andrew Boyd, published by W.W. Norton. To order a copy, click here
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