I worried about my daughter as well. I made some very poor choices as a young adult and I know I own those choices but I often wonder what would have been different if I had therapy at the same age as my daughter (she was 17, I was 29). My daughter seems much more self-aware than I was. Whatever the future holds you will be there for her I am sure.

Praying is what I do more of than anything else and it has got us this far. I have hope for her as well.

Laura

Is her career choice one that could jeopardize her safety? If not, it might be healthy for her to experience a little failure, if that's likely to happen. I use the term "failing forward," meaning you fall, but you learn, get up and keep going in a better direction.

A lot of survivors are overachievers, always trying to be perfect. If your daughter doesn't pressure herself in that way, she may have more common sense than some! :D

More important, if she's optimistic...it's surprising how far that could take her. If she's happy and not stressed, she's in a better place to learn (brain studies show this to be true) and to succeed. She's also likely to be open to considering something better if the opportunity presents itself.

To the degree that we make our own luck, it's tough to make any luck if you're not feeling lucky. Does that make sense?

I wish so much that I could redo my daughter's childhood that it's sometimes hard for me to let her have any freedom at all! But how will she become the real adult she deserves to be if I try to overprotect her from failure?

Them's my two bits.

I also made some unwise choices as a young adult & relatively scary. I like the term falling forward :) I think some people don't always find the better direction & use failures as a wall. I'm hoping that my daughter will be strong.

She made me proud yesterday. She's trying to join the Coast Guard. You have to give them your whole medical history. She told them the truth. We shall see if she gets accepted.

I still see this as her way of running away, but it's the good kind of getting away from her past. God's plan...

I will say a prayer for her. She's already a hero, just what the Coast Guard needs!

Wow! It sounds as if she's "running away" to a really structured environment, thank God. Predictability is good. Strength training and preparedness for tough times are good. Help with future education is good. Seeing the world is fantastic!

She hasn't decided to put a hat on the sidewalk and juggle for a living. She hasn't decided to sink the family fortune into a Ponzi scheme. She won't be degrading herself at Hooters (that's MY opinion only!) or "modeling lingerie" in a club somewhere.

You done good.

Hero, just like mommy bear said, seems like a great word to describe what your daughter is! I think that the Coast Guard would be lucky to have her!

Thanks. I know she could do worse in career choices. I just have my own internal personal fears because it just seems a complete opposite of her personality. But she wants to run to Alaska, this will get her there. It's good to be able to vent in a safe place.

Need some prayers for success.... Apparently the Coast Guard has an automactic decline if a person has ever been committed. We're trying to get a waiver. Prayers that it works. She doesn't need this disappointment.

I hope it works!

IF it doesn't, I hope your daughter recognizes that it's an injustice, not a comment about her actual self-worth. She didn't chose the path that led to her distress. Her hospitalization was an effort to heal a wound inflicted by someone else. Her willingness to serve others in spite of this is the true sign of her value to society. If the CG won't have her, a medical school will, a teachers' school will, an engineering school will, and any company that hires her will find a serious-minded employee.

If she's survived CSA, she can definitely survive a change of plans. But I'll keep my fingers crossed! :D

Praying! Couldn't agree more with Naive1.