Both me and DH are from dysfunctional families. We are both scapegoats. In some ways it’s good that we have each other and have an understanding of what it’s like to come from dysfunction, but the huge downside is we have hell on both sides of the family. We are NC from our perspective, but it doesn’t stop the family. They are always there, usually popping up to cause havoc on special occasions. I’m tired of it. It’s like I walk around with a constant shadow over me. They are highly manipulative and between them have done a smear campaign on us that has pretty much destroyed all of our relationships with people. We don’t know what has been said about us, but people are different with us, avoid us and when we have seen people they have sang our families praises, when they barely knew them before. We suspect they used social media to achieve their goal, as some of the people had zero connection to them before. We have now deleted our social media accounts, but I think it’s too late. We have nothing left, but each other and our DC. Though the family have told us they plan on having relationships with our DC in the future with us frozen out. We aren’t in a position to move. I can’t cope with it anymore. Life feels so pointless and stressful. There is nothing we can do to protect ourselves. It’s hell being related to these people. How do others cope in this situation?