Over the past 10 years I have worked really hard to try to learn how to be a nurturing parent to myself. This has involved learning how to be firm, how to be loving, and how to not disempower, to not rescue, to not abandon my Self.  I have made lots and lots of mistakes, which means I've learned a lot, the biggest thing I've learned is that I am worth it and that no one else can tell me what I need in order to make it happen for me.  I've learned that when I don't nurture me, I will project that abandonment out onto the people around me. I've also learned that when other people are not nurturing their inner child, they will project that out onto the world around them including me. Over time this will hopefully help me to take the behavior of others much less personally and start to see the abandoned child in side of them although, I'm also learning that if my inner child is not abandoned, I may not see the abandoned child in others. That is for them to see for themselves.