"Poor Thing" and Caroline

A little girl had a doll she called Caroline, a doll she had cherished since she was very small. It was worn out, missing clumps of hair, and one eye no longer closed. Yet she continued to play with Caroline, scolding her incessantly and constantly demanding more and more from her.

One day, her grandmother gave her a new, very beautiful doll. Her mother asked what she was going to call her. "I'm going to call her 'Poor Thing.' Because people always say: 'Poor thing, how divine. Poor thing, what a sweetheart.'"

"Poor Thing" and Caroline. Two powerful archetypes that can come to dominate our lives. Who plays the role of the "poor thing" in your life? Of course, whenever you find yourself thinking or saying, “Poor thing, he/she needs me,” it is likely that the relationship is not functioning in a healthy way.

 And who are your "Carolines"—those people who are always there and from whom you keep demanding more and more?

And you? Are you an “Caroline” in life? Have you lived a difficult, demanding, and challenging life, yet continued to keep giving and carrying on? Or have you been fortunate enough to live a lighter, easier life, and still sometimes feel that life is unfair?