Adverse Childhood Experiences
Have You Ever Been Afraid of Your Own Anger at Work?
There’s no getting around it: Anger is scary. I’m not talking about moderate-to-severe daily annoyances. I’m talking about white hot rage, the kind where control is balanced at the edge of a cliff – at the base of which lie crashing surf, rocks, bones, and the remnants of careers and reputations. It’s bad enough being…
Read MoreBumper Car Moments
You know the feeling I’m just about to describe. You’ve been there too. You’re at work, and everything is going smoothly. You’re sailing through your day. Work is getting done. Meetings are productive and blessedly short. Everyone is smiling at each other. You can hear laughter in the halls. Your boss thinks you’re fantastic. And…
Read More“I’m Not An ASDP But…” Part 2: That Moment When You Discover That You’re One After All
(Disclaimer: If you’re an Adult Survivor of a Damaged Past (ASDP), some of what you will read below may feel familiar to you. But I also want to acknowledge the fact that your career success to date is as a result of a heroic effort to rise above your past. You have grown to be…
Read MoreThe One Question That Can Change Everything for ASDPs
When we were children just learning about life, the people with the most influence on our beliefs were the adults in our immediate circle – usually our parents, sometimes guardians, possibly other influential adults. But what if they were adult survivors of damaged pasts (ASDPs) themselves? The adults from their childhoods taught them harsh lessons…
Read More“I’m Not an ASDP But….”: How Your Damaged Past May Be Blocking You From Your Joyful Future
“I’m not an ASDP but…your message really resonated with me.” Yes, I’ve heard that before. I’ve read that before. Heck. Even I still have trouble admitting to one person, never mind a whole audience, that I’m an ASDP myself. There are times I still stumble over the acronym. Adult Survivor of a Damaged Past. But,…
Read MoreHow Your Past Lives Rent Free in Your Present (Part 2)
“Life is difficult.” M. Scott Peck opened his 1983 book, The Road Less Traveled, with these three simple words. And all over the world, hundreds of thousands of readers opened this landmark book, read the first sentence, and exhaled. As universal as the experience of a difficult life might be, to see those words written…
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