I’m glad you learned these valuable lessons, cherish them. My mom was the opposite- she said all of the things you wrote above. However, I just didn’t listen! She told me to never use self-deprecating language, mention past rejections, or expose childhood traumas. I wanted to be “open and honest” and spilled my secrets (big mistake). She even warned me to be careful about my LVM ex, that because he was inferior to me he might cheat to make himself feel better. I was so angry- how dare she say my loving, sweet boyfriend was inferior to me? How could she insinuate that he might cheat? Well, she was right. He was cheating trash. Manipulative, compulsive liar, porn-sick, uneducated, lazy, mean, racist, homophobic, steroid addict, self-obsessed, kleptomaniac, awful friends/family, bleak future... truly a piece of work. Did I mention he believed QAnon? Or how he wanted BLM protests to come to our country just so he could riot, vandalize and steal? Makes me sick to think I was with him... it feels like a fever dream. One of my biggest lessons have been to listen to my mom. She has more experience dealing with garbage men and she wants my happiness more than any other person on this planet. Next time, I will tell her all these awful traits instead of keeping it to myself. I know she would have woken me up to his awfulness much sooner had I done so, for I was too busy living in severe denial