Mary

By Mary Winifred Strong

The book tells the story of Mary, the only daughter to a mother who had mental health issues. It tells of the experience through the eyes of the child and the emotional impact of living with psychological and physical abuse throughout her childhood.

Mary was inherently a loving, caring fun loving child but it seemed her inner joy and light shone too bright for those around within her family.

It shows how Mary learned to adopt to the most difficult of circumstances. She adjusted psychologically in order to protect herself.

It shows the courage and strength she had to survive in the most adverse circumstances, portraying a great example to us all in survival.

It is an inspirational story of hope, strength and triumph.

It is a true depiction of events told from the authors recall of her childhood experience. There is no blame intended as Mary knows that her mother did her best with the knowledge and tools she possessed. Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those involved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Jun 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781982249748

Mary Winifred Strong

Mary began her life as the only daughter to a mother who suffered from Mental Health issues. Unfortunately, Mary's mother treated her, in particular, in a cruel manner throughout her childhood. The effects of such manifested in Mary feelings of lack of confidence, self worth as she grew into adulthood. This resulted in confusion and self-loathing behaviours. In her early years she experimented in risk taking behaviours, eating disorders and addictions. However deep inside Mary had self belief that had never died or could fully give up on herself. Outwardly she managed a successful career , a comfortable lifestyle and her own family, but inside Mary bore the scars of pain from childhood abuse. It was in her mid forties when everything came to a head and Mary finally had her breakthrough. She had been meditating since she had bought her first Louise Hay self love meditation cassette tape when she was twenty years old. She had read every self development book possible and listened to inspirational CDs all those years. There were ups and downs, twists and turns, and even roundabouts on Mary's journey of self love which has finally now reached its 'manifestation'. Mary is in her late forties now with a successful career and a mother to her three children whom she believes have been her angels sent to help her heal. It is through them she has gotten to know and experience true unconditional love. Mary continues to work in the area of Mental Health Nursing. She has qualified also in the areas of Child Psychology, Psychology Of Counselling and Reiki Healing.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Mary Strong.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use

of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical

problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The

intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you

in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any

of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right,

the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-4973-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-4975-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-4974-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020911108

Balboa Press rev. date:   06/22/2020

CONTENTS

Preface

The Author

Dedication

The Atmosphere

Mary

The House

Sneaking Out

Golden Child

Beautiful Mother

The Elements

Indoors

Schooldays

First Holy Communion

Special Day

Unwelcome

Memorabilia

The Mission

School Bullies

Popular Girls

Swimming Pool

Weekends

Food

Red Roses

Lonely Child

Rover

Spot

Fluffy

Dad and The Farm

The Lake

White Bed Sheets

Lucy

Flury

The Caravan

Talent

Torture

Bandana

Speaking Up

Knocked Down

The Bicycle

PREFACE

It was 1980’s Catholic Ireland. Mary lived on the outskirts of a small town. She was the only girl in the family of four children. She was inherently a happy, loving positive child. Their family was, in many respects, just like other families at that time; each had their own struggle. Mary suffered abuse at the hands of the one person who should instinctively love her: her mother.

This story will depict the experience of the young Mary trying to live in a world of drama, cruelty, and abuse, told from her perspective. It is written from a recollection of events from her own truth.

This book addresses a topic that many in society may choose to ignore or disbelieve, due to the fact that it appears unnatural, many would suggest; for a mother to be cruel to her child. This story may provoke an unease to believe such mothers exist among us but unfortunately, they do.

Sadly, high traits of narcissism appear throughout Moms personality, in particular when interacting with her only daughter. It appears Mom had her own personal challenges which clouded her ability to show love to her child.

Understanding the complexities of this is vital to children of abusive mothers in overcoming the effects of abuse. The author suggests that these mothers are the unfortunate among us who did the best they could with the ability they had.

This book is not about blame or revenge. It is intended to highlight the fact that this has been some children’s reality and to honor their ability to survive such difficult childhoods.

Unfortunately, the author suggests, the scars from abuse may be too much to bear for some and may result in mental health issues, addiction, and even suicide.

THE AUTHOR

The author herself suffered some of the adverse effects of maternal abuse in her own teenage years. She was in her twenties when she first discovered the meditations and books of a lady who would change her life, Louise L Hay. This began her long healing journey of self-discovery and healing. There were many great teachers and healers who inspired Mary in the following years. It would be over two decades later, when she finally reached understanding, forgiveness and self-love.

Mary is now a successful, middle-aged woman and devoted mother herself. There was turbulence and abuse in her adult life for many years until she worked through her inner child conflict and finally came to a place of self-acceptance and empowerment.

There is a second book (in the works) that tells of Mary’s adult life, which was also filled with stories of familial abuse, trauma and of course, joy.

The author wishes to highlight that individuals who have suffered maternal abuse in childhood must know that they are not alone and hopes that sharing her own experience may just help someone. That is the aspiration for this book.

It was in first reading experiences of Christina Crawford (Mommie Dearest) and David Pelzer (A child called ‘it’) that Mary tapped into the subject and painful reality of the existence of maternal abuse. Reading such books helped her