Devotion Rerouted as Healthy Self-Care

Rabia's devotion was total, but it was directed toward the Divine, not toward controlling outcomes or managing others' emotions. Many children of intergenerational trauma learn premature caretaking: you become the emotional regulator for your depressed parent, the peacemaker for your conflicted household, the validator for your parent's choices. This creates a distorted devotion—loyalty bound with resentment, love tangled with obligation. Devotion Rerouted as Healthy Self-Care means redirecting that intense relational energy inward first. You devote yourself to understanding your own wounds, honoring your own needs, and rebuilding trust with yourself. Only then can you offer genuine presence to your children—not because you must manage their emotional survival, but because you are whole enough to show up with abundance rather than depletion. This reorientation feels selfish to those trained in compulsive caretaking, yet it is the most generous legacy you can offer.