“Mommy issues” and “daddy issues” are often used as jokes or insults, but the relationships we had with our parents and caregivers can shape how we experience love as adults. They influence who we are drawn to, how we respond to conflict, and what we expect from the people closest to us. Sometimes we repeat familiar patterns and other times we may build our relationships around trying to avoid them.

This week, we are looking at what we learned about love, trust, attention, and safety from our earliest relationships, and how those lessons may still be showing up now.

Love Series 8: The Ways We Learn to Love

Love does not begin with our first relationship. It is shaped by the families we come from, the friendships we choose, the roles we inherit, and the patterns we carry with us.

This series invites us to look more closely at how those experiences show up in our relationships now. Together, we will explore chosen family, gender roles, parental wounds, the difference between safety and boredom, and what it means to accept someone without enabling behavior that causes harm.

There will be space for honesty, reflection, connection, and, as always, a little bit of fun along the way.

Week One: Chosen Family and Love for Friends

Week Two: Gender Roles in Relationships

Week Three: Mommy/Daddy Issues

Week Four: How to Make Healthy Relationships More Exciting

Week Five: Enabling Bad Habits vs. Accepting People for Who They Are

Week Six: Fun Week!!

We’ll meet Mondays and Tuesdays for one hour, for six weeks. Please only join if you can commit to at least the first three weeks.

Seats are limited, so reserve your spot while you can.

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.

— Maya Angelou