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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

My mum thinks I will loose people if I talk about my problems.

53 replies

Overwhelmed83 · 13/11/2021 20:43

I’ve just got into an argument with my mum. Same old thing all the time. I’m having a difficult time parenting at the moment, it’s getting me down. I went to speak to my mum and she said she is bored of hearing about it. I was just about to go off and see my boyfriend and she said I expect you’ll go there and talk to him and he’ll be bored of
It also.

I don’t know who to talk to anymore. I’ve never been able to talk to my mum about anything and it’s upsetting I can’t go to her or it seems anyone. Am I wrong here. I need to talk to people, it’s getting me down sitting on everything all the time on my own. I’ve no support. Or do I, my boyfriend says he’s here for me and now I don’t know if my mum is right and I shouldn’t talk to him.

OP posts:
BruiserWoods · 14/11/2021 09:53

It does depend. There are times when I have thought, ''Im not your therapist'' and I have even ended a friendship because she complained about the same issues with her ex without ever distancing herself. So she just offloaded on to me to be able to cope with his shitty behavior.

However, I have found it a reassurance to know that other people struggle with parenting.

I'd say just watch that you have other topics of conversation and make a conscious effort to change the topic of conversation while still being HONEST that you find parenting difficult!

My friends and I have really struggled with a lot of things and discussed those difficulties but tried to do it with humour iyswim.

I think you have to be aware that a trouble shared gives you perspective and makes you feel less alone, but your friends aren't free therapists.

I'm a people pleaser though so I would have to fight that core belief that you need to sing for your supper to be allowed to sit at the table.

BruiserWoods · 14/11/2021 09:58

@Overwhelmed83

Yeah I think I was triggered last night by her lack of support again. I don’t know why I expect it. It’s like when I left my ex husband because I had a breakdown due to abuse. I had nowhere to go but to her and she said to me that’s the life you chose for yourself, you chose him.
My Mum is like this as well.

Any kind of perceived weakness in me revolts her, frightens her, triggers her.

And it might not even be a weakness per se! It's just an awareness ''this is challenging for me!''.

But her toxic positivity triggers me and her shut down and her total inability to give me any small space for my uncomfortable thoughts or just to acknowledge that I'm feeling challenged, that triggers her! The perfect storm.

It's like that with everything for us. I want to talk about things and that triggers her and she shuts down and stonewalls me. That triggers me and I get angry with her. then she deflects and the issue is hi-jacked and becomes ''i shouted at her''. She shuts down more and I get even more triggered becauase at this point i've been trying to be heard in several different ways and I'm just shut down and shamed.

I have to learn that my mother is only capable of talking about the weather and the garden with a smile staple gunned on to her face.

Onelifeonly · 14/11/2021 10:10

I have several long term friends I can talk about my problems with. One in particular who is a great listener and often responds in a way that is really helpful for me.

But one of them will offload for hours when things are going wrong for her. And not just to me. She has lots of friends and often tells me what others have said re the issues, so I know they get it as well. When she is like that, I find her draining and feel like I don't really exist as a person to her, just a sounding board. When she is in a better place, we get on really well and I remember why we are friends.

My mum is dead now but I didn't really have that relationship with her where I could offload. Maybe in my teens to some extent, but not really after I left home. It didn't bother me too much (though I do have memories of her being spectacularly unsympathetic on occasion) as I always had friends or partners I could talk to.

I suppose you have to read other people and choose who you can moan to that will give you support. I just accept that some people can't take it or aren't interested. One of my oldest friends once told me I went on too much, which hurt. But one of the best conversations we have had in recent years was when she offloaded to me at great length about a boss who was treating her unfairly!

Just because your mum finds it annoying, doesn't mean your bf will. But try to read the signs - body language etc. Or find a therapist if there are intractable issues you are not managing.

Onelifeonly · 14/11/2021 10:18

I think also that for anyone you can reach a point where someone else's problems become too much for you. When someone goes round in circles about something, and nothing you say stops this, it can make you feel very inadequate. And I think its unfair to do that to someone.

If it is a parenting problem you have, have you tried reading around the issues or joining a forum where these issues are discussed? (Not necessarily mn, one that specialises in whatever it is).

Pippi1970 · 14/11/2021 10:22

I think it's impossible to say without knowing more, tbh. Perhaps your mum has listened a lot and given advice and you don't take it? I sometimes get fed up with one of my dds who complains a lot - I love her but sometimes if I've had a bad day I don't really have the headspace for it. If she never listens though then that's a different matter.

Pinkyxx · 14/11/2021 12:09

Agree, it's hard to say without better understanding the issues you're talking about and to what extent and how often and for how long you've been talking about them?

Bagelsandbrie · 14/11/2021 12:41

You mention being in an abusive relationship- often people who have abusive or narcissistic parents end up in abusive relationships because they don’t know what real love and support is. I certainly find that to be true in my own experience anyway. Your Mum isn’t being very nice, even if she’s heard it a lot she should still want to support you and appreciate it’s important to you. Would you treat your own child the way your mum treats you? That’s a good way of judging things.

FlowerArranger · 14/11/2021 16:24

Lots of very useful comments here, especially about not overwhelming friends with one's problems. I have a rule of 3s which seems to work well:

  • for every negative, I try to mention at least 2 positives;
  • I never spend more than a third of the time focusing on my problems.

Also watching body language....... and stopping myself before eyes start to glaze over.

Overwhelmed83 · 15/11/2021 17:45

Well thats just sodding great isn’t it…my daughter has had her parents eve and had some not so good parts, nothing bad but my mum says that’s because of me. It’s not at all, she is good in some parts not so in other. Then makes a comment about who am I always talking to on the phone….any bloody one but you really. Thanks mum.

OP posts:
category12 · 15/11/2021 18:17

Do you live with your mum? I'd really reduce down everything you share with her if you can. She's not really on your side and that's not going to change any time soon.

Yeah I think I was triggered last night by her lack of support again. I don’t know why I expect it. It’s like when I left my ex husband because I had a breakdown due to abuse. I had nowhere to go but to her and she said to me that’s the life you chose for yourself, you chose him.

You probably ended up in an abusive relationship because of the way she brought you up. Lack of emotional support, lack of feeling valued and loved growing up often means your "shark cage" is weak. www.oomm.live/the-shark-cage-metaphor-spotting-potential-abusers/

If you do live with her, moving out as soon as you can manage it would be best.

Overwhelmed83 · 15/11/2021 18:26

I’m 100% sure she is the reason I got myself into this mess. He picked up on that almost immediately and knew I couldn’t go to her. I would rather have done anything then have my mum know what I was putting up with, I was ashamed I knew I wouldn’t be supported. I created a massive lie that everything was fine just because I didn’t want her to now. Until I ended up having a breakdown as obviously it was not fine and I was sweeping it all under the carpet.

I still pretend I’m fine when I’m not, we’ll I’m mush better but only because I’ve struggled through myself. I’m sure healing with support would have been much easer then it has been.

OP posts:
category12 · 15/11/2021 18:39

Someone suggested the Stately Homes thread earlier - you might find it helpful. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/relationships/4387624-October-2021-well-we-took-you-to-Stately-Homes

Cutting her out or radically reducing contact might be to your benefit and your dc's.

Certainly curtail what information you share with her - it's ammunition to her. When your family members are like this, unfortunately you need to look outside of them for support and care, and look for "chosen family" instead. Have you had any counselling or support?

Overwhelmed83 · 15/11/2021 18:46

I did have a bit that’s how I got back to where the trauma started. I’ve got over my panic attacks and a lot of the anxiety. However I do still now and again have a bit of dissociation, nothing much comes of it it’s just my body was so used to being in that state for a long time. I struggle a bit now that I can see how appallingly my ex treated me, it’s scary knowing I went through that.

I have friends and a great boyfriend who listens but really as they never had my experience don’t really understand. He does keep one focused on the day and I look forward to seeing him which keeps me out of my head and dwelling on him.

It just my mum. I’m supposed to love my mum but I don’t. She was abused by her father so I understand why she is the way she is but I have no connection with her. She is nothing she has no emotions she is just defensive when you question why she says what she says. She has no friends, no family are interested. My brother moved far a long time ago and is not emotionally interested. I never understand why but I do now. He has a loving wife and kids and a nice life. Shame he kind of left me behind also.

OP posts:
RedWingBoots · 15/11/2021 18:51

OP please read and post on the stately homes thread.

You will understand you aren't the only adult who grew up with parents who were unable to parent appropriately.

Oh and I suspect your brother left you "behind" because you appeared close to your mum. However you can forge ahead in life with minimal contact with both of them.

CheekyHobson · 15/11/2021 19:12

Yeah I think I was triggered last night by her lack of support again. I don’t know why I expect it.

Well, you expect it because she's your mum, and it is 100 percent reasonable to think that the person who chose to give birth to you would care about your struggles and want to support you. And most mums do! Sadly, a few do not really have this capacity, and it seems pretty clear that your mum is among them. What you need to understand is that this is not about you being needy, it's not your imagination that she is less caring than you should expect, it's really that she has a problem that she doesn't recognise AND she has raised you in a way that means you don't fully recognise the problem either.

Not having ever had emotional support from your mum is a real and important issue. It's a form of neglect. You've basically been denied and tried to live without something that is a pretty foundational human need – the security of knowing you have a 'safe person', someone who will always care about you, even when they're tired or had a bad day themselves.

When you don't know what genuine care looks or sounds like, it's really easy to blame yourself when you don't get it. Like, when you tried to tell your mum about your struggles parenting, she told you that she's bored of hearing about it.

It's really easy to hear this and think "Wow, I should shut up about my problems because I'm just a moaner." Or feel sad and angry and wonder "Why doesn't my mum want to support me?" but not seriously try to answer that question in a way that focuses on your mum's responsibility for her actions. Or you tell yourself "Maybe she is just having a bad day and can't handle anyone else's problems."

But all of these responses side-step the real issue, which is that your mum spoke to you in an UNCARING and blaming way. Like, if my kid came to me and started telling me about a problem they had, even if I was tired or had a bad day or had heard about this problem before, I would try to respond to them in a way that showed I cared even if I did not know how to solve the problem they were having.

So I would say something like, "Hon, I know you are having a really hard time with this but I am absolutely exhausted from my day and I can hardly think straight. I really want to help you with this - can we talk about it tomorrow?"

Or if I couldn't understand what was causing the issue, I would ask questions to try to understand the problem better, like "Could something be going on with your kid at school? How are you feeling in general? Do you feel like you have so much going on that you feel overwhelmed? Is someone else letting you down with their share of responsibilities?"

Or I would offer sympathy and ideas or my own experience, like saying, "Yeah, parenting is so hard, so often we are just making it up as we go along. I remember when you were the same age as your kid is now and I was struggling with this... here's what I did."

I suspect the core reason your mum told you that your struggle with parenting is "boring" is that she doesn't have much of an idea of how to help you (because wasn't a good parent herself) so feels useless and frustrated. Probably she didn't get very good parenting either, which is why she doesn't know what to do now. This stuff moves down the generations.

But she can't recognise that so instead she blames you and makes you feel bad so that you'll stop talking about it and then SHE can stop feeling bad. She honestly probably doesn't even realise she's doing this. It's her automatic avoidance response. And telling you not to tell your boyfriend because he'll be bored too is a kind of projection of her own feelings of inadequacy onto him. Maybe deep down she's scared that if you start going to your boyfriend with your problems, he'll actually be caring and helpful, and you'll start to spend more time with him, or recognise her deficiencies more clearly.

You've done the right thing, by the way – come here for support. There are plenty of caring people here who will offer you ideas and suggestions – but also because we're a bunch of internet strangers, we are not a reliable form of long-term support.

My advice would be to try to keep recognising – as you've started to – that the lack of support you're experiencing is a real and serious issue and that you need some help to deal with it. That's 100 percent okay and normal. As the saying goes – no man or woman is an island – we all need other people and community. So given you know that your mum is very unsupportive and you can't count on her, have a good think about how you can get some other, genuine support in your life.

Talking to your boyfriend and trusting that not everyone is like your mum a good start, but the more sources of help you can get, the better. Do you have any sensible friends who can lend an ear from time to time? Could you get some books from the library about parenting or understanding parental neglect (so you can understand what's going on with you better)? Maybe talk to the Citizen's Advice centre? Ask your GP if you can get a counselling referral? If you're part of a church community, they usually offer pastoral care. There are actually loads of places out there if you just start to look. The first step is believing that something different is possible.

Overwhelmed83 · 16/11/2021 08:15

Thanks @CheekyHobson that was a really great post and really does describe my
Mum. She is not deliberately mean she just has nothing to give. I’ve spoken to my auntie in the past and she says she was a bully when younger, she had no friends and was extremely jealous of the friends my auntie had. She can’t make connections with people. I too have problems making connections with people, I’ve always thought I had some form of undiagnosed learning difficulties. It was only after having the breakdown I learnt about my mum. I thought I was wrong, I am not I know that now.

I am at a loss of how to fix this though it’s been so long like this. I feel awful that I just don’t love my mum. I don’t really know what love is. My boyfriend makes me feel secure and I just love being around him, I’m more me when I’m with him….is this love? I just get embarrassed when I get emotional. I don’t like people to see me emotional in case they think I’m too much and will leave.

OP posts:
Overwhelmed83 · 16/11/2021 08:17

I was told I had an emotional breakdown because I didn’t acknowledge any of my emotions and they went boom. Then after it happened I had no one to turn to for support so I disassociated and made it all worse. What a mess!

OP posts:
CheekyHobson · 16/11/2021 17:23

Well, I think love is really complicated – the ancient Greeks had seven different words for love that covered the kinds of love between friends, in families, between lovers, etc – whereas these days we lump it all together under one word. So that word is trying to do a lot of heavy lifting and it can get confusing figuring out what 'true' love is. This is a post that talks about all the different kinds of love www.lifeadvancer.com/types-of-love-ancient-greeks/

It's especially hard to know what love if if you haven't had a secure and consistent experience of love from your formative models – your parents. You haven't mentioned your dad at all, so I'm guessing there may be some issues there too.

But in short, it doesn't seem to me from your posts that you lack the capacity for love at all. It seems like you've had very mixed experiences with your mother and so that has left you feeling unsure and untrusting. In this case, we can also find it hard to know what 'love' is, because we conflate one kind of love with another (like thinking that because someone wants to sleep with us, they also care about our feelings and wellbeing) or simply don't expect it to last so never really invest all of ourselves in it.

The Greeks said that the first and most important kind of love is loving ourselves. This can be healthy or unhealthy. Healthy self-love is when you value yourself a lot, but you also value others a lot. Unhealthy self-love is when you value yourself a great deal, but don't value others all that much (also known as narcissism).

You have to care about and value yourself in order to be in a healthy, loving relationship, because if you don't care that much about yourself and care more about others, you will end up pouring your time and energy into relationships with people who reflect that lack of self-love – in order words, people who care a great deal about themselves but don't care a great deal about others.

Your honest feelings show you the way you here. If you feel good with your boyfriend, relaxed, like you can be yourself, he does kind things for you, and listens to you, and you do the same for him then yes, this is love, or at the very least, the raw ingredients for it. I am not sure how long you have been together, but it sounds promising.

Your relationship with your mum sounds different; it sounds like there's a lot of anxiety and struggle. To be honest, if your mum is saying unkind and selfish things like "I'm bored of your problems", I think you can feel pretty safe in thinking the problems are largely on her side. The problems might not be that she can't love you, it might be that she feels so deprived of love herself that she just doesn't have any spare for anyone else.

I tend to think of love as a kind of positive energy that gets passed around between people. If you have a bunch of people in your life who regularly give you love-energy, and you're good at doing things that build up your own store of positive love-energy (aka self-care) you'll have a lot to spare and share. If you don't have a lot of people around you who give you love-energy and you don't do kind things for yourself, you'll probably feel really low on love-energy and won't have any to share. In fact, you'll spend most of your time with others trying to get love-energy from them and perhaps feeling resentful if they don't give you 'enough'.

There are some people who really lack any long-term capacity to consistently give love to others, no matter how much kindness they are shown themselves (these people are fortunately quite rare but it's not impossible that your mum is one of thing). In those cases really the only healthy thing you can do is limit your contact with these people. Every relationship is different and with long-term 'enmeshed' relationships ('enmeshed basically means unhappy but feeling obliged to continue the relationship) there's usually a lot of unpicking to be done before you can judge where the truth likely lies.

If you set aside time regularly to think about your relationship with your mum, write about it, reflect on your memories of experiences with her and try to figure out what might have been really going on for you and her, at the same time as learning more about how relationships work, you can probably unpick a fair bit of it on your own (this will take some time!). Talking to your mum about what she felt her own childhood was like might turn up some surprising and enlightening information, or talking to your aunt a bit more. Getting a good therapist will speed this process up a lot (but of course, this takes money, which you might not have a lot spare).

CheekyHobson · 16/11/2021 17:35

Please excuse a couple of auto-corrects in the last post!

TheFoundations · 16/11/2021 17:51

What do you think, OP, about how open a couple should be with each other about their own personal issues?

I don't think you have the same opinion as your mum, otherwise you wouldn't be posting, or distressed by what she's said.

So type it out. Get it out of your head on onto this thread, out in the world, where people can see it: Should we all be generally shutting up and sitting alone with our problems like your mum says, or should we be sharing how we feel, and engaging with each other on a deep, warts and all level? What's your opinion? What are your feelings? What do you need?

Overwhelmed83 · 16/11/2021 18:23

I’m embarrassed to talk to him about my past. He may see me as faulty or weird, he does not in any way say this to me or make me feel like he would.

I have extremely few memories of my past. The only memories I have of my mum involved fear and control. My dad was loving and supportive but always telling me to give her the benefit of the doubt. She couldn’t help it she was ill etc. My mum used to call me a maggot because I was pale and she would force make up on me but I didn’t want it. She embarrassed me in front of my friends about how I looked. She went through my things continually, I had no privacy. She’d shout or withhold dinner if I was late back. I’d often sit and force food down whilst feeling scared so I got issues then with eating in front of people and anxiety. She used to sit in the car and put her foot down heading to round abouts so angry at times. This was all teenage years, I remember none of my early childhood just the overwhelming feeling of fear and loneliness. Not physically but just alone. I was scared of absolutely everything. When I met my ex I thought he more was someone who could “save” me so I didn’t have to go back to where I grew up, I was very wrong about that.

To be honest I hate my mum, I put up with her because I feel sorry for her but I hate being around her, I try to get away at any opportunity. I have no feelings of love towards her. I loved my dad, he is no love he here sadly.

OP posts:
Overwhelmed83 · 16/11/2021 18:26

My dad was deeply unhappy in the marriage. He became increasingly unhappy and snappy. My mum used to blame it all on him and his behaviour but she sucked the life out of him. I don’t know how he put up with her, for us.

OP posts:
category12 · 16/11/2021 18:30

Oh Op, your mum is and was horribly abusive.

I think talking to a good counsellor or therapist about your childhood is what you need to do.

Overwhelmed83 · 16/11/2021 18:35

This is what I struggle with she isn’t like this anymore. She has no emotions but she isn’t mean anymore now she is older. She helps in certain ways. I remember she was depressed when we were younger and she did get diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis when around 35 and I’m sure that was hard.

I’m very confused on how to take her. It’s like Ive convinced myself for almost 40 years that she was fine but I also feel it just wasn’t. Such an odd feeling.

OP posts:
category12 · 16/11/2021 18:43

She's still emotionally abusive. Maybe it's more subtle, maybe it's not as in your face, but it's still there.

Telling you you're boring, that you'll drive people away, telling you're at fault for "choosing" an abusive husband, always picking out the negatives and so on - they're all mean - they're all emotionally abusive and come out of that pattern.

She may not be able to help who she is, she might have had trauma and illness in her life, and she might well be someone to pity in many ways - but it doesn't mean she isn't toxic and damaging still.

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