Tenderhearted

Abstract

This is a collection of non-fiction essays and one fictional short story that began with the idea of the psychological phenomenon of undermothering but eventually took shape around ways in which my coming of age was impacted by feelings of tenderheartedness and shame. The writing of this thesis serves as a personal attempt at recognizing the lifelong realities of my tenderheartedness and the resulting feelings of shame and isolation that have emerged from various periods and occurrences of life such as childhood, friendship, being parented, experiencing parenting, dating, suffering injury, guilt, fear, and selfishness. Among the goals of this collection, upon considering some of the difficulties of existence, is to find healing in the understanding of the inherent value and worthiness of one’s own life