Your smile is brighter than my whole night sky

“I like drinking coffee alone and reading alone. I like riding the bus alone and walking home alone. It gives me time to think and set my mind free. I like eating alone and listening to music alone. But when I see a mother with her child, a girl with her lover, or a friend laughing with their best friend, I realize that even though I like being alone, I don’t fancy being lonely. The sky is beautiful, but the people are sad. I just need someone who won’t run away.” -Unknown

[thepeacefulgarden]

[cheshmenoor]

[90-slifestyle-deactivated202604]

[thepeacefulgarden]

[thepeacefulgarden]

[cadescha]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bethany Webster | Author, Speaker & Coach (@themotherwound)

Our mothers are NOT children that need rescuing, soothing and coddling.

They are grown women with their own paths and healing journeys that we cannot save them from.

Having healthy boundaries with your mother is a form of self-respect and NOT equivalent to "abandoning" her.

Healing involves finding that balance between compassion for our mothers AND boundaries to protect ourselves.

The bottom line is your inner child needs you more than your mother does, and we have to make the brave, taboo choice of prioritizing ourselves as more important than our mothers.

That's healthy self-development.

If your mother is not on a healing path herself or willing to reflect on her behavior, etc. all you can do is create some measure of distance to protect yourself.

YOU are your priority not her. You get to focus on your own wellbeing without guilt.

Resist the guilt-tripping that comes out of her own emotional immaturity and childhood wounds.

Learning how to validate yourself even when your mother cannot, is a huge milestone on the path of healing the Mother Wound.

[thisiswhatisup]

Travel is not a reward for working. It’s education for living.

- Anthony Bourdain

[jean-doe]

[poeticpicturism]

[the-enchanted-little-star]

[fracturedporcelaindoll]

Beautiful~

[etherealyearning]

Benington Lordship Gardens

[cozyautumnspices]

[sorrrowfull]

[peacefulandcozy]

Instagram credit: coffeesoakedpages

[listentothestories]

📸 Pinterest

[wetheurban]

Alignment in August. Unlearning in August. Growth in August. Unity in August. Success in August. Thriving in August.

[expensiveity]

heal. your mom may never apologize to you, because she has conditioned herself to believe that she did right by you. she hasn't healed. heal anyway. your father may never apologize to you, because he can only see what he's done right. he hasn't healed. your family members may never apologize to you, because toxicity is what they were raised on. they haven't healed. heal anyway. that "friend" may never apologize to you, because he/she isn't sorry. he/she hasn't healed. if/when they reach their healing, they may seek your forgiveness. be so healed that it won't even matter. heal for you. you owe yourself that much.

[lovedisarms-deactivated20250422]

THIS!!!!!!! HEAL FOR YOURSELF!!!!!! NOT FOR THE SAKE OF OTHERS!!!!! BUT FOR YOU!!!!!! People often inquire how I have the relationship I have with my parents considering it all and my answer to that is my healing is not contingent on them, but rather myself. I don’t have to wait for them to heal, to reflect, to realize, and to act before I am able to. Of course it carries weight to know my parents won’t apologize for the past, and that it will always linger within our home and within our relationship, however: I am not bound by the actions or dare I say inactions of them. I owe it to myself to heal and to forgive and to stop centering the hurt people have caused me and to rather instead center my own wellbeing.