Conversations from the Heart

#121- How to love a parent who rejects your help

Yvette Erasmus

What do we do when the person who raised us is now emotionally volatile, resistant to help, and unintentionally casting us as the villain when we try to care for them?

In this heartfelt conversation, Diana brings forward the tender, painful challenge of loving her aging mother, who struggles with emotional regulation, trauma, and shame, and the deep inner conflict between wanting to offer support and needing to protect her own nervous system.

Together, we unpack:

•The emotional cost of parentification and role reversal

•How to stop being your parent’s regulator, therapist, or emotional manager

•What boundaries look like when withdrawal isn’t abandonment

•The grief and guilt that emerge when we start living our own lives

•Why “staying kind” sometimes means stepping away

If you’ve ever struggled with guilt around setting boundaries, or felt trapped between compassion and exhaustion in your family, this one’s for you.

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