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Growing up with an absent father, for whatever reason, is a major trauma in a child's life.
As a grown-up, you can feel the impact of your fatherless childhood and/or adolescence in many ways. You might have:
- Dysfunctional relationships
- Painful conflicts with your own children
- Lack of professional success
You might often feel:
- worthless, invisible
- angry at the world
- sad and empty
- unsafe, lost
- unsure about being a woman (a man)
If you still feel the deep pain of this trauma, professional help is in place. From psychotherapy and counseling to alternative methods like EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), there are many methods to choose from.
Of course, if your mother was strong, loving and functional in the world, you have a big advantage. Also, having had a positive male role model around certainly helped.
And don’t forget: Having to learn how to take care of yourself the hard way can make for a strong, smart, independent person. There are many “high achievers” who grew up with an absent father, for example: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Tom Cruise, Barbra Streisand, Jody Foster, Marilyn Monroe, Angela Lansbury, and John Lennon.
Also, many women associated with the feminist movement were fatherless daughters, like Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer, Bella Abzug, Geraldine Ferraro, and Susan Sontag.
How are you strong and highly accomplished, in your very own way?
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