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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Annus horribilis

4 replies

Cambridgechick · 14/06/2014 23:16

Posted on here a while ago about DH, was advised strongly to kick him into touch but lacked resolve and still limping on.

Now living in limbo - parents NC with DH, which makes it tricky for me to see them. Brother not speaking to me since DH told him he couldn't come round or see my DC. Brother has depression, eating disorder, resents Mum and blames her for all his problems, resents me as I'm apparently the favourite (not true, he was always Mum's blue-eyed boy). He has young DD but still doesn't see any reason to get his shit together and has put SIL under huge strain with his addictive behaviours, too numerous to mention here.

Dad has Parkinson's and, for those of you that don't know, stress makes the symptoms worse. His youngest brother is now in the final stages of a terminal illness too.

As if things weren't bad enough Mum has become extremely depressed but told me she couldn't say why. After some sleuth work on FB, have discovered brother and SIL both posting stuff which shows they're in a bad place. Challenged Mum about it and she admitted the marriage is over but brother has sworn her to secrecy. The selfish twunt. He never tires of saying how much he despises her, but that doesn't stop him venting his problems on her and forcing her to bear the burden alone. I posted an 'are you ok' message to SIL on FB before I knew and he has phoned Mum to interrogate her as to whether she's told me. She's terrified he will cut her off, he's done it before, and has begged me to keep stumm. I'm planning to write him a letter which TBH I should have sent him 10 years ago, telling him he is being cruel to Mum and to me, but emphasising that I love him and am sorry for DH's appalling behaviour. I feel shell-shocked that in 1 year my seemingly perfect family has been reduced to ashes and terribly worried about M and D. How the hell do I get through this? Will I ever have a 'normal' life again and when will I get the courage to leave my self-pitying DH?

OP posts:
WellWhoKnew · 15/06/2014 00:38

Hello,

I don't like to see unanswered messages. So you're stuck with me.

Firstly, what really resonates is how out of control you feel. Everything is unravelling around you, and you're desperately running out of plasters to glue together the chasms that are emerging within your family.

If I've understood it correctly,

You and your DH are not seeing eye to eye.

Your DH and your DB are not seeing eye to eye.

Your DB and your DM are not seeing eye to eye.

Your SIL and SB are not seeing eye to eye.

Your DF and your DUncle are very unwell.

May I ask, why does it have to be you that sorts out something that is beyond sorting? You are right, your family is imploding. In fact, exploding.

There are other adults involved here. You don't need to deal with this, you need to survive it. You are not a bomb diffuser, you are a person with a problem that needs to be tacked: A shit marriage.

Quite frankly, even superman would run for the hills faced with your problems.

Let everyone else deal with their own problems. You find your selfish gene and focus on making yourself okay.

I realise that's harsh but I'm of the mind that when the chips are down, you leave the casino.

PlantsAndFlowers · 15/06/2014 00:48

I agree, I think your relationship is the one thing that you can control here.

Cambridgechick · 15/06/2014 00:54

Thanks, that's a really helpful post. You're right,I do have a tendency to feel responsible for sorting out family problems, stemming back to childhood when I felt my role was to protect my younger brother and Mum from Dads rages. I've never quite shaken that off and couldn't see that I was doing that again.

Funnily enough, I'm doing a lot of running too. The worse things get, the more I (literally) run for the hills. You're right that I need to focus on my own mess. I barely even touched on the huge problems we have at home, including debt, which sometimes make me feel I wish I could bail out. But I know I have to keep going for my DC's sake. DH and I have started Relate, but I doubt he will change.

OP posts:
WellWhoKnew · 15/06/2014 01:21

Today, you are the woman who is responsible for your children.

Everyone else just has to deal.

Repeat, ad nauseam.

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