Quiet Greif

No One really talks about the quiet grief of growing up without a safe mother.

You become an adult, and suddenly you're surrounded by women who call their moms after a bad day. Who go home for the holidays and actually feel loved there. Who laugh with them over coffee. Any you try to smile. To be happy for them but...

Deep down, there's this ache- A soft, hollow place inside that whispers, you'll never have that. Not because you didn't want it.

But because it was never safe to want it.

Because your mom wasn't soft, or warm, or emotionally available. Maybe she was critical. Dismissive. Or just... not there in the way you needed.

And now, as a grown woman, you carry a grief that's hard to explain. You didn't just grow up without a mothers love - you grew up having to mother yourself. To pretend it didn't hurt. To move through life with a smile. Even when a part of you felt abandoned.

So if you feel that ache when you see other women lean on their moms, you're not crazy. And you're not alone. Your just someone whos had to survive the kind of heartbreak that most people didn't even realize existed.

• Author Unknown