Receiving: Can someone have difficulty receiving if they experienced developmental trauma?

If someone takes a step back and reflects on their life, what they may find is that it is often difficult for them to receive what they need to survive, let alone thrive. So when it comes to money, they may rarely have enough.

Keeping a roof over their heads will be challenging and they may not always have enough to eat. Because of this, they are rarely going to have enough money to buy “luxury” items.

a great fight

They may not have been on vacation for years and may not even think about leaving. But, if they’re struggling to make ends meet, they won’t have much energy left to think about such things.

Now, this does not mean that they will not have a job and will live on alms. No, they may have one or many jobs, but no matter how many they have, they will not earn enough money.

other area

Along with this, they may discover that there are not many people in their life and that the ones in their life are not very supportive. Thanks to this, they were able to believe that they have to do almost everything by themselves.

When it comes to their romantic relationships, this might not be better since they may never have been in a relationship. Or, if they have, they may have been with at least one person who couldn’t really be there for them.

Left with nothing

If they were a plant, they would only receive a few drops of water from time to time. As a result of this, they won’t receive what they need to grow and expand, but they will receive enough to ensure that they don’t die.

Therefore, it will be normal for them to be in a state of lack and see life as a great challenge. They will not need to look for challenges to overcome, just getting through each day will be a challenge.

Get down to work

If they normally work hard and do what they can to try to change their circumstances, it could be said that they are doing the right thing. This will mean that you will not sit around waiting for your life to change.

Still, it could be even more difficult for them to handle what is happening, as they will be trying so hard and getting very little in return. If they have a tendency to feel like a victim, it won’t be a big surprise.

a savior

Sometimes they can imagine what it would be like to have someone come and save them from what they are going through. This being a moment in which they would finally receive what they needed to be able to prosper.

At other times, they might wonder why other people can get what they need and aren’t struggling like they are. It may seem that these people have something that they themselves do not have or that they are special in some way.

Out of control

They might believe that the only way their life will change is if what is happening ‘out there’ changes. Unless this happens, they will simply have to put up with what is happening and continue to suffer.

However, while it may appear that what is going on externally is the problem, what if it isn’t? What if what is going on inside is what is preventing you from receiving what you really need?

a deeper look

There is a chance that deep down you don’t feel secure enough to receive and therefore have a need to keep the world at bay. The bad thing is that since they are not aware of it, it is as if someone or something ‘out there’ is depriving and/or even punishing them.

At this point, they might have a hard time understanding why they would be this way, especially since it’s not serving them. To understand why this is so, you will need to take a closer look at what happened during your formative years.

Way back

This may have been a time when they missed out on the attention they needed in order to grow and develop. So when they weren’t neglected, their caretaker might not have been in tune with their needs.

Not receiving the proper care they needed, they would not have been able to bond with their primary caregiver. When their caretaker was there, despite being out of step with them, they would have been traumatized.

A threat

Human contact, something they needed, and life in general, would have ended up being associated as a threat to their very survival. The way to handle this pain would have been to shut down and disconnect from themselves.

Since they were totally powerless and dependent, they had no other way to respond. Back then, being in a disconnected state and keeping life at bay would have prevented them from becoming traumatized, as well as depriving them of the nutrients they needed, and now it will cause them to suffer unnecessarily.

Awareness

This brutal stage of your life will be over, but a large part of your being will not have moved from what happened. That is why they will still have the need to keep life at a distance and will rarely, if ever, be able to receive what they need.

If someone can relate to this and is ready to change their life, they may need to seek outside support. This is something that can be provided with the help of a therapist or healer.