⚔️ What it means to have grown up with a disciplinarian parent
Growing up with a disciplinarian parent meant living under military-style control where rules dominated everything and there was little room for questions, emotions, or your authentic personality to emerge.
You may have grown up in a household where strict schedules, rigid expectations, and unwavering obedience were the only acceptable ways of being. Your parent likely valued control and order above emotional connection, seeing any deviation from their rules as defiance that needed to be crushed. You learned to become the "perfect" child on the outside while hiding your real thoughts, feelings, and desires where they couldn't get you in trouble.
This experience gave you incredible self-discipline and the ability to follow through on commitments, but it may have cost you your sense of authentic self. You might now swing between rebelling against all authority and completely surrendering to others' demands, never having learned the middle ground of healthy boundaries. Freedom might still feel uncomfortable or frightening, and making your own choices can feel overwhelming when you've been programmed to follow someone else's script.