July 7, 2026- There are many possible negative outcomes of poor parenting. The particular outcomes will
vary from person to person, even if persons seem to come from similar circumstances, because
each individual is different and finds different mechanisms to deal with what is happening to
them in a home with poor parenting. It also is true each individual is unique and encounters life
and reacts to it differently. It also is true that resources available to the person that they utilize
for their own well-being varies widely for each individual coming from a home with poor
parenting. Even though there are varying degrees and acts of poor parenting, the key areas of
poor parenting would include such factors as emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Included
would be neglect and parental lack of any sense of family care and love. While sexual and
physical abuse may predictably lead to greater negative outcomes, emotional abuse and
neglect can be psychologically devastating to the person. There are many possible negative
outcomes of poor parenting. Common outcomes are anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem,
aggression, defiance, fear, no backbone to defend self, perfectionism, poor attachment,
indecisiveness, cannot trust, fear of intimacy, poor interpersonal relationships, poor academic
performance, substance abuse, delinquency , inappropriate sexual activities, and worst of all,
continuing the same parental dysfunctional behaviors with their own children and partners in
their lives. Positive factors to counter poor parenting would include relationships with stable
family members, relationships with stable persons, caring teachers, caring coaches, caring
clergy, good friends, team member relationships, good role models, and any personal
experience that can counter the negativity in their home. If you have come from such a home
and feel you have been damaged emotionally by your experiences at home when growing up, it
is never a time to accept this is just the way you are and nothing can be done. Through a
combination of self-love, replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts, developing
relationships with people who are positive and can care for you, joining spiritual or other groups
that offer camaraderie and caring, and potentially seeking out an experienced therapist to help
you in your road to better self-esteem are things you can do to compensate and even throw out
the negativity that has resulted in your life because of poor parenting.

June 30, 2026- Are you bored in life and nothing excites you? Do you go through the motions of life, but the fun is gone? Do you find yourself alive, but with no emotional spark? If so, then you are missing out on what a person needs in order to be happy. I will add this lack of motivation can happen in a life that most persons would consider very positive. It does not matter what someone else might think, the important thing is if you find you have a lack of motivation and want to do something about it. Before we talk about things to do to regain motivation in your life, let us talk about some of the things that cause someone to lose motivation. They would include a person being bored, being rudderless and going in no particular direction in life, being depressed and anxious, having too much routine in their life, spending too much time watching television or digital time, not taking care of self emotionally and physically, a lack of spirituality, and simply accepting your life with lack of motivation is something you cannot change. If this is happening to you, you can make changes so you can overcome your lack of motivation in life. They would include investing some time to figure out what you are doing with your time, initially set some small changes to your life that you feel could be helpful and you can do, gradually add more changes, remember your passions and interactions that were exciting in the past, seek spirituality to give more purpose to your life, do things that are fun and different from what you are doing, walk and exercise to keep the body in good shape, keep your mind active with puzzles, reading and other things to keep the mind going, get outside and connect with nature, get some nutrition back in your life and make sure you are eating healthy, get enough sleep, finding new people or groups to add to your life, spend time helping others and being grateful for what you have, limit television and digital time, look at your job and see if you need a new position, look and see if you need more education for a new job or career you desire, be accepting of yourself and your feelings but determined you are going to get some motivation back in your life, and as needed, seek out a trained therapist to help you get more motivation and direction in life.

June 23, 2026-
Everyone periodically can fall into a shopaholic spending spree. For clarification, we are not talking about the person who has a Compulsive Shopping Disorder(CSD) to the level they are in severe financial distress with resulting anxiety and depression because of their compulsion. No, we are talking about the person who spends too much money on shopping and desires to control the spending urges. A person with a severe compulsion to buy who cannot stop on their own very likely needs to find a therapist experienced in compulsive behavior and potentially a group to sort out the problem. The problem we are discussing here is when being a shopaholic leads to you spending beyond your means or simply wasting money spending on things you do not need but feel you want in the moment. When you decide to quit being a shopaholic, a simple plan to start besides cutting up the credit card and waiting a week before buying something you want, is to designate a period of time to only get what you need and when you need it. This is much easier said than done. During this period, on a daily basis, determine what motivates you to buy as urges come forward to buy things and you control what you spend. Typical reasons would be Internet ads, deals from retailers you commonly buy, shopping trips with friends or family, peer pressure to buy, surfing sites like Amazon, a bargain you cannot resist, or a desire to own something regardless of your need. If you want to effectively stop being a shopaholic, you need to distinguish between need and want. Many people have a problem with this distinction. You need to do it to control your shopaholic spending habits whether you are 15 or 80 years old. Minimizing shopping trips with friends or family can help. Most people can remember coming home from shopping or the shopping trip with many things they really do not need and not even sure they want after they have them. Being willing to return things that one determines they do not need or they do not use is part of the process of stopping being a shopaholic. The more you do this the more you will realize how many things you buy that you do not need. It is a wise thing to look at how many clothes or books or whatever you have bought and see if you ever used them. While hopefully on a much smaller scale, you may find you have become “Emelda Marcos” in the present. You might remember that during her period as the First Lady of the Philippines, she had at least 1060 pairs of shoes. You do not want to fall into the pattern of going shopping and talking about how much you saved while ignoring or not wanting to admit how much you spent. It is difficult to stop being a shopaholic, but now is a good time to start.