During our formative years, our original sense of self (the one we call ‘I’) is progressively replaced by a public image, shaped around the needs and desires of the culture in which we are born. This happens to both men and women, but it is on women that our society - still largely dominated by the patriarchy – tends to leave more of a mark. From childhood, in fact, the need to be accepted and loved by parents, and our wider community, often leads a child to change her personality to try and resemble, as much as possible, the idea that others have of her.
This false image is built on what other people want you to be; it does not take into account who a person really is, and soon becomes the one and only image that a woman has of herself, and is also the image upon which she will base her entire life. When, for some reason, this image cracks, the person experiences intense inner discomfort, which can manifest in several ways, including chronic fatigue, lack of purpose, apathy, self-loathing, emotional detachment, anger, irritability, and many more. Recognising this malaise is not enough to begin a journey of renewal, because you first have to find a way to break free from the fog you are wrapped in, after years of what can be considered complete brainwashing.
Our society teaches girls to be good, submissive, and passive, to the point of becoming almost invisible, especially towards any males assuming a position of authority, for example a father or future partner or husband. A habit that women are taught, and one which is instilled from an early age, as if it were a default setting from birth, is to think that if something goes wrong, it's their fault, and it is their job to fix it. This is one of the reasons so many women are reluctant to leave toxic relationships: they are convinced that they are to blame for everything that is wrong with the relationship, and that the only solution is to endure the situation, in the same way they have seen many women do before them.
