“The greatest burden a child must bear is the unlived life of the parents.”
It’s a heavy truth. When parents don’t chase their dreams or heal their wounds, the weight of their unresolved issues often falls on their kids.
When parents have unresolved issues, unfulfilled hopes, unspoken regrets, or suppressed passions, they often unconsciously project them on to their children.
This can create a lot of pressure for the son or daughter to fulfill what his/her parent could not. It can silently shape a child’s path, pushing them to carry what was left undone.
Children may feel responsible to live out their parent’s unrealized dreams, often without realizing where that pressure is coming from.
Very often this may result in them pursuing paths that do not align with their true desires, leading to much dissatisfaction later in life.
Carl Jung is highlighting the importance of parents living their own lives fully and authentically, and not vicariously through their children.
Parents should get help and get in touch with their own unresolved issues and unfulfilled dreams. That is the only way to free their children, and give them space to live their own lives.
If you are a parent make sure you heal your wounds, and do to pass them on to your children.
This quote is a call to live fully. Not just for ourselves, but to free the next generation from picking up our pieces.
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