She pops in to visit me from time to time.

I don’t really like her, and she’s not welcome, but I am not very successful at saying “No”, so … she keeps coming.

After every visit I feel anxious and confused, because she always makes me feel foolish and incompetent.

I never know when she will come – it’s always unannounced so I can’t mentally prepare for what I know will be a stressful visit.

I took a different path in life a few years ago and assumed that would be the last I would see of her, but no, she follows me everywhere.

The difficult thing is that she knows all about me, all my past as well as my present, so she has a bit of a hold over me. Yet she distorts everything, exaggerates my weaknesses, puts fears into my mind that I would never have even thought of. It’s actually quite unpleasant and I wish she would leave me alone.

I guess we all feel the same if we have such a one in our lives. But who is this? Her full name is Recurring Bad Dream.