Growing up in an alcoholic and dysfunctional home can frequently lead a child to believe that they are a burden in life to their parents. When a parent is actively battling some type of addiction such as alcohol or drugs, or is dealing with mental imbalances, the child often becomes neglected. Even worse, in many cases they also become the blame for their parents’ disease and their problems. This was definitely the situation in my own home with both my sister and I. The two of us grew up believing that we were always at fault for everything bad that happened there. We became convinced that we were a burden to our parents and sadly that continued well into our adulthood with any of the friendships and relationships we tried to develop. To combat that negative programming, I began to utilize the following mantra. It has helped me greatly to reprogram myself and I know it can help you as well if you have ever felt that you were a burden in life too.
