The Family Patterns You Inherit
You swore you wouldn't do what your parents did. Here's why those patterns follow us — and how to stop the relay.
There's a moment many people hit in therapy: realizing they're doing the exact thing they swore they'd never repeat. The tone, the shutdown, the avoidance — patterns passed down like an inheritance no one asked for.
These patterns survive because they were once survival strategies. Your parents learned them from theirs, and you learned them from yours. Naming them isn't blaming your family — it's finally seeing what you've been carrying so you can set it down.
You can't change what you inherited, but you can change where it stops. Awareness is the hinge. With it, you catch the old response mid-sentence and choose a new one. That's how the relay ends — with you.