Family estrangement is something that I am quite familiar with. I moved out the house directly after high school due to a toxic relationship with my parents. They both are highly critical and judgmental of others and place expectations on others that hard if not impossible to live up to. I was constantly belittled and compared to others, and nothing that I did was ever good enough. I was called an embarrassment to the family, stupid and other derogatory words that inflicted a lot of emotional turmoil on me in my teens.
I was wondering how others deal with the estrangement. I am currently 37 and have limited contact with my family, although I moved closer to them a few years back. I still am left out pretty much every type of family gathering, or informed of such matters at the very last minute. When we are in each others presence I often times get to hear negative comments about me, and even have had mother throw in my face shit that I did when I was 14.
For me, I have found that surrounding my self with a supportive group of friends helps. As does a friendship with a much older woman who sort took on a mothering role of sorts and has been there for me since I first left without so much as a clue as to how the hell I was going to make it without a job, money or even an apartment at the age 18.
I was wondering how others deal with the estrangement. I am currently 37 and have limited contact with my family, although I moved closer to them a few years back. I still am left out pretty much every type of family gathering, or informed of such matters at the very last minute. When we are in each others presence I often times get to hear negative comments about me, and even have had mother throw in my face shit that I did when I was 14.
For me, I have found that surrounding my self with a supportive group of friends helps. As does a friendship with a much older woman who sort took on a mothering role of sorts and has been there for me since I first left without so much as a clue as to how the hell I was going to make it without a job, money or even an apartment at the age 18.
