Premium: Saving the Relationship Without Losing Yourself

Gender: A Wider Lens

Sasha Ayad and Stella O'Malley

Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, Mental Health

4.6 • 961 Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2025

⏱️ 3 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.widerlenspod.com

The emotional and mental toll of navigating a child’s struggles with gender dysphoria can be profound. Parents often confront feelings of helplessness, confusion, and even grief as they face the rapid progression of medical interventions or societal pressures that seem at odds with their instincts or values. This journey is undeniably challenging, but it’s crucial for parents to prioritize their own emotional well-being in order to provide the steady, loving support their children need.

Self-care is not a selfish act; it is a necessary foundation for maintaining the strength and clarity required to guide and advocate for a child in such a complex, personal struggle. Amid overwhelming challenges, it’s easy to feel isolated. However, it’s important to remember that no parent is alone. Building a network of like-minded individuals, seeking professional support, and tapping into community resources offers not only practical advice but also emotional sustenance, providing the reassurance and solidarity needed to persevere.

In this bonus episode for premium subscribers, Lydia emphasizes the need for a balance of compassion and boundaries, encouraging parents to listen attentively to their child's experiences and feelings while maintaining a clear sense of their role as guides and advocates. She highlights the importance of hope and connection and underscores the value of fostering open communication within the family.

Watch our full length episode with Lydia: https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/episode-200

For instructions on setting up a private feed to listen to our premium content in your favorite podcast app, visit https://www.widerlenspod.com/p/how-to-listen-to-our-full-premium.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, widerlens podcast listener. What you're about to hear is a preview of one of our bonus episodes for premium subscribers.
0:08.0	If you'd like to hear the rest, head over to widerlenspod.com and sign up for any of our paid membership options.
0:15.0	Paid subscriptions allow us to continue to create high quality content for our listeners all around the world.
0:20.0	Now here's the preview of this week's exclusive content. to create high quality content for our listeners all around the world.
0:23.7	Now here's the preview of this week's exclusive content.
0:29.5	I'm glad you said all that because I suppose we're all in it a few years now.
0:34.1	And I know we, you know, we have spoken so much about the relationship, the relationship.
0:36.9	But at the same time, I've lived a long life.
0:39.4	And I've, I've known a lot of families over the years in different contexts. I've seen a lot of drug addiction and alcohol addiction.
0:44.3	And I've seen families say, no, I have to look after my family. I have to keep my sanity.
0:50.6	I have to keep myself. You know, there's some level of integrity I need to keep.
0:54.6	Or I will go mad.
0:56.8	And so I can't just lay down in the face of what can be often very abusive behavior
1:02.6	or what can often be very inauthentic behavior and you could lose yourself in it.
1:08.0	So one could say the relationship is everything, but it's not if you lose yourself.
1:12.5	And so I do think it's not a relationship if you're not there. Yeah. Well, if it's not a relationship
1:17.7	if you're not there. If you're not there. I think it's it's really important that parents are
1:23.7	given the freedom just like they have in lots of other contexts with mental health,
1:28.5	that sometimes you have to have a boundary and sometimes you have to say, no, not in my home.
1:33.2	This won't, this won't happen. For the greater good, for the family, for myself. I think it's very
1:37.8	important to hide it. And because I have other children too, I have daughters. And I I have I have a responsibility to my whole family.
1:50.0	I've always viewed the family as an organism and all of the parts of the organism need to be healthy in order to be truly functional.
	...

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