I met a young man who’s father left the family when he was just two. He had an uncle and eventually a baseball coach who would look out for him.
So he had a decent support system, but it was nothing like having his father there for him. But what he did instead of letting it control his life was he was able to focus on helping others. He ended up working with juveniles.
That is an unusual reaction.
He is more aware of what other children need to go through when they don’t have their parents support and he is conscious of looking for ways of helping others.
The challenge is he is so conscious of others he doesn’t take care of himself the way he should. He works too many hours, he skips meals in order to help others and he doesn’t get enough rest.
We only had to work about 15 minutes on the issue which boiled down to being able to take care of himself first so he would have enough energy left to be of service to others.
The main results was he became aware that he had to take care of himself consistently. He now knows he needs to avoid the bad habits he has developed over the previous years.