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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 upbringing is ruining my life, what do I do?

123 replies

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 10:23

I was neglected emotionally as a child. My mum was controlling and nothing was good enough. My brother was the golden child and always has been. I entered a 10 year abusive marriage at 24 after finishing my studies. He treated me terrible and I tried to please him into treating me better.

I have learned via therapy that my upbringing made me a people pleaser and my self esteem and identity pretty much was non existent. It has always been important that people like me because I’ve never felt liked. I was bullied in school and at university for being different. I do struggle with relationships. I get jealous of other people.

I can’t seem to shake this gaping hole. I don’t see my achievements. I should have achieved more if I wasn’t like I am. I don’t want to ruin my current relationship. I don’t feel happy about what I have although I know it’s enough.

How do you fix this feeling, it’s been 40 years and I’m sick of it? I’ve never had someone be proud of me. I’ve not told my family of the abuse. I went to court and divorced with no one knowing as it was awful. My mum would not have understood or supported so it was best to be alone. Only I’m sick to death of holding this alone. I am the failure in the family. I just want a hug and some emotional support or something.

OP posts:
Cluedup81 · 17/07/2023 10:30

Oh my heart goes out to you. Emotional neglect and abuse, particularly from parents can be more damaging than anything. Like you’ve already said, it does a real number on your sense of identity and self esteem.
Because you have never been able to trust anyone to give you that emotional comfort and support, you’ve found it safer to do things by yourself, which must feel
really isolating and lonely. I’m so sorry you’ve been treated that way x

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 10:34

@Cluedup81 it makes me extremely jealous and resentful to those who get it. I hate being like it.

OP posts:
Watchkeys · 17/07/2023 10:55

I’ve never had someone be proud of me

You need to be proud of you.

I am the failure in the family

This perception is your problem now, not your upbringing. Your upbringing trained you to behave the way you do, but it didn't change who you are. Who you are is the same as it would have been if you'd been raised to have self confidence, and you can learn to have self confidence at any stage of life. I did it at 43. It took a year of counselling, but the change itself happened in a moment. It was like tectonic plates shifting, and I nearly fell over (I was out walking the dog)

This is what happened for me: I realised that whatever had happened to me in the past, however I'd been treated in the past, whatever I'd been the victim of in the past... none of those things were happening now. Everything that was happening now, I was bringing upon myself, and I was the one who needed to take responsibility for it, and do something about it. I could not blame my parents or upbringing any more, because one parent had been dead for 20 years, and the other one had been out of my life for 10. They were not doing anything to me.

Once I realised that, I realised that I was fully responsible for myself. In the same way that we are responsible for our children. So, if I didn't like someone/somewhere/something, it was up to me to remove myself from the situations. If I wanted to be something that I wasn't, I had to make decisions to put myself where I needed to be to become that thing. Up until then, I'd been staying in unhappy situations, and seeing myself as 'faulty' for not liking them... we wouldn't do that to our children.

The fact that you are doing it all alone is an advantage. You are in charge of you. You are responsible for you. You are the one who needs to both give and receive a hug to/from you. You are the one who needs to be proud of you. You are the one - the only one - who can fix this.

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 11:28

But @Watchkeys I don’t want to be doing it alone, carrying it all alone. I did it alone because I had no choice. If given the choice I would have liked to have had someone support me with the divorce and all the court hearings for that and the abuse. I’ve had no one, I told no one. I only had myself to tell me to keep going. It’s like I’ve ran out of doing it all alone. I’m quite capable alone as I did it. I’ve got my own house alone, I renovated alone. No encouragement from anyone ever. It’s so so lonely. I want so badly something I’ve never had, to actually been noticed.

OP posts:
Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 11:30

I’m unnoticed in my family and that of my in laws. I’ve learned to just keep quiet because what is the point. I feel like I’m suffocating around these people. Why can’t someone externally just be proud of me.

OP posts:
PTSDBarbiegirl · 17/07/2023 11:36

You need to find a professional to work this through with. It sounds like you're crying out for validation and recognition and need some positive self regard. It's complex, you have alot to leave behind. Get help and you'll be amazed how quickly you start to feel better.

Watchkeys · 17/07/2023 11:40

I know you don't want to be doing it alone. But a large part of the problem you're having is in the lack of recognition that we are all doing it alone.

I have a healthy relationship now, but when I feel shit, I recognise that it's not on my partner to make me feel better. I have to do that. I like the cuddles, but I don't need the cuddles, and that's the difference. I'm the one who stops me falling down. I'm the one who stops me feeling shit. It wasn't until I realised this single that I was ready to start a relationship.

What do you do that makes you feel great? What do you do that makes you feel proud of yourself? What do you do that helps, supports, nurtures you? Other than a relationship, what do you make brilliant in your life, for yourself?

Eyesopenwideawake · 17/07/2023 11:43

I told no one

How do you think people - friends and colleagues rather than family - would have responded if you'd given them that opportunity?

Poochypaws · 17/07/2023 12:03

A big hug from me who was also neglected, bullied, controlled and manipulated as a child. It has left me with lots of problems although it took me to later on in life to realise I had them. For example I am hopeless at relationships so I have given up now on them. I have an eating disorder. I have depression and anxiety and am permanently on tablets. The damage a bad childhood does to you is enormous especially when the neglect/abuse happens when your brain is developing.

Here's something you can be proud of. You have recognised what some of the issues are at least. That is an achievement. Better than your mum has clearly done. So well done you.

I notice when I meet people who are genuinely confident and assertive but nice too that they always have a good family ie they have loving supportive parents who have taught them to feel safe in the world, to manage their emotions, to have good boundaries, to have faith in their own abilities, to be ok about sometimes failing.

I have done lots of reading on this subject and a bit of therapy too but gave up as too expensive and it was clearly going to be required for a long time too. My understanding is your inner child needs to be reparented and that it is she that is crying out from within you. I know it sounds like utter babble but I think it is true. Your emotional development is stunted when you are neglected or abused as a child as so your brain does not develop properly leaving you emotionally as a frightened child whilst in an adult body. You can fake to the outside world being an adult all the while being lost, frightened and feeling like a helpless child inside.

The failure is not yours. It is of your mum. She did not parent you properly and indeed sounds like she to this day does not admit to the problem or apologise for it. You need to accept that she was an inadequate parent, probably with low emotional development.

Please buy some books on inner child. You basically need to reparent yourself.
I am a mess myself. I know what I have to do but it is exhausting and easier to ignore. When 'big' you starts to look after or parent 'little' you then the theory is the healing can start. Forget about your mum being 'your mum'. She isn't your mum and won't ever be. She isn't capable of it. You need to be your own mum.

If you have time in your life a dog can be helpful to make you feel less alone.

People who have good parents have a massive start in life. They have a solid foundation under them which stands them in good stead wherever they go.
People who are neglected or abused have shaky, broken or non exist foundations. Thus their house keeps falling down, tilting, leaking, shaking, leaning.

You will probably never be as good as the person you could have been with good parents. Try and be the compassionate mum to yourself if you can.

You are a good person with a bad mother. It was not your fault. xx

baroqueandblue · 17/07/2023 12:10

OP you'll get people coming along who'll tell you they don't need relationships that validate them in various ways in order to feel good about themselves. Nevertheless, they have at least one such supportive partnership, and in important ways have probably always had at least one in their lives 🤷‍♂️ But they prefer to think of themselves as having 'done it all' regardless. When all you've ever known has rarely if ever offered at least one externally validating unconditional special relationship (ie. love) life can be unenviably trying.

I get it.

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 12:10

I know it wasn’t my fault and I agree @Poochypaws that is all feels such a monumental task I just want to hide away. It’s so unfair that others had a good start to life and I will always be behind on that. I’m absolutely sick of it all now. I get jealous and it eats me up for weeks until I let the feeling go. I’m so tired of this bloody feeling. I look on social media of all my friends with their families and I’m just so jealous. I’ve got no grounding, nothing or nowhere where I feel at home.

@Watchkeys I no longer expect my partners to make me feel better. I’ve been in a relationship for a few years now and it’s not an abusive one. He could not make it any better any way even if I wanted him to, it’s not his job and the damage has come from way before him.

I can’t escape life, the feelings I feel when people are doing well or they enjoy their family or they are being championed and I’m just hid away. I’m sick of how hard life is for me and it’s not for others.

OP posts:
baroqueandblue · 17/07/2023 12:19

Also, when we're unloved, neglected, abused, rejected and emotionally and/or physically abandoned as children, we don't learn how to love. That probably helps explain why you feel dogged by those envious feelings. Love empowers us, fear and lack of love disempower us. When we feel disempowered we're prey to deeply hostile feelings. Perhaps they can be worked through in therapy, I'm not sure.

Rolana · 17/07/2023 12:19

This sounds incredibly tough and you sound amazing. I'm sorry you've had to be so strong. Few suggestions-

Could you try and increase your friendship circle? I know this can be hard. Could you join a club- I've heard people say that clubs like wild swimming clubs often have a good friendship element. Or do some volunteering, I've heard charities like the Samaritans have good camaraderie between volunteers. Could you invite a friendly neighbour over for a natter some time? I'm not suggesting these steps will make everything OK.

Find a good Counsellor. Get counselling.

Don't give up.

Namechange666 · 17/07/2023 12:22

I hope you don't mind a stranger saying this.

But I'm proud of you.

Proud of you for getting this far.

Proud of you managing all alone when you didn't want to.

Proud of you for pushing on regardless.

Proud of you for getting to this moment and wanting something in life to change.

Because all of that takes guts.

I am proud of you for being you.

I want to be proud of me too. My life also has to change. I've made some changes but I keep making some mistakes in between.

What do you think you can do to help your change come about? Have you thought about some therapy? Do you have any friends to confide in?

I wish you the best of luck op.

pikkumyy77 · 17/07/2023 12:22

Look up mindful self compassion. Aside from struggling with the real absence of support (lack of family, isolation, lack of trust) you are also caught in a shame cyclone—when you experience desire and envy (perfectly natural) you also feel shame and self loathing. Mindful self compassion aims at freeing you from this painful shame state and letting you grow forward and into your own experience rather than feeling overwhelmed and like you are the problem.

As pp upthread said you are a “good person with a bad mother” that is hard for you to accept. You feel that you must have been defective or at fault to have been treated the way you were (shame). But that is just a feeling, not the truth. And you can learn to stand apart from that debilitating feeling and recognize its limitations. Its true your family would not have been supportive during your divorce but if you had shared with a friend they might have been. Your current partner is there for you. The problem isn’t that there is no one bit that you sometimes can’t access awareness or acceptance of the love that is there.
.

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 12:36

It’s hard to keep pushing on to change and accomplish things that are invisible or really should have been something that was just there. People congratulate jobs and buying houses and cars. It makes you feel good. No one congratulates a single thing I’ve done. It took 2 years in court to divorce my ex. Standing there having to hear him blame me for the abuse, telling how I’m shameful, how my dead dad would have be so proud of me. All I did was try and fix a mistake I made marrying a bad person, it was my bed. No one sees that as an achievement. All I done really is fight life.

OP posts:
VoluptuaGoodshag · 17/07/2023 12:39

OP I just wanted to say well done for coming on here and speaking up. For recognising that your previous relationship was shit and getting out of that. I know exactly how you feel. You want, in fact need, to be seen and valued. And yes we have to be responsible for our own happiness but it’s a difficult feeling to shake off that ‘unseen ness’.

I blame my Mum for a lot of things and only realised how emotionally absent in my life she was when I reached certain milestones with my own kids. I had their back in a way she never had. It pisses me off no end. I’m in a great place just now, with great husband and friends but there is still a hole that I peer into at times. Books that helped me were ‘Running on Empty’ by Jonice Webb and ‘Motherwell’ by Deborah Orr. I also got counselling and still have top up sessions.

I’m in my 50s and have now sort of made peace with my lot. Looking at all my relationships, I was never interested in them until they showed interest in me and I realised how much I craved that attention of being important in someone’s life (my mother was indifferent to anything I did). As such I made some poor life choices but actually my DH now, whilst he has some faults, is really a great guy and I’m trying to see things through different optics rather than some utopian fantasy. I’m grateful for the good things I have in my life and for the person I am.

I wish you well OP.

Watchkeys · 17/07/2023 12:48

I’m sick of how hard life is for me and it’s not for others

This is the issue. Many people have hard lives. This isn't a 'poor me, I'm the victim' situation. Not unless you choose it to be. Take responsibility. Some people have it easier than you, sure. But some people are doing what you're doing whilst dealing with illness, on-going abuse, poverty etc, and are choosing to pull themselves up out of the hole.

What are you doing to make yourself feel good? What are you doing to make you feel proud of yourself? What are you doing to make this better? The issue, as you've said yourself, is that you are a people pleaser, and yet, even having identified that, you still think that the solution is for someone else to be pleased with you/proud of you/appreciative of your efforts. You are still viewing things in the way you were conditioned to, and the conditioning is what has to break.

You have just as much chance as anybody to have a great day today. What can you do, to make that happen?

What's your relationship with your partner like? Are they loving, supportive, and respectful of you in daily life, and when you make changes to better your life? What would they say if you said 'I'm having a life overhaul! I want to be a pilot, run marathons, and learn to play the cello, and I'm taking my first steps towards those things today!'? Would they say 'That's amazing! Is there anything I can do to help?' or would they say 'What? You loon. You can't do that.'?

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 13:02

@Watchkeys I do suffer with long term illness and I’m incredibly frustrated that my body can not do what I want it to do. I would like to be able to earn more but it’s not physically possible. All I seem to do lately is sit and look at all the bad, there doesn’t appear to be anything good in terms of my future.

OP posts:
Seaoftroubles · 17/07/2023 13:21

OP l feel for you, your upbringing sounds very hard but you sound amazing to have overcome this and to have got so far.
I second the advice given to connect with your inner child and re parent yourself so do look for a counsellor that specialises in this area. You can yourself learn to give that little girl the love and support she deserved.
You've been given some good advice on here so maybe try to embrace a few suggestions that give you the opportunity to make more connections, eg becoming part of an activity where you can make more friends, or maybe by volunteering.
Does your DP understand how you feel and do you feel safe and loved by him? Also do you have pets? They can give love unconditionally and can really make you feel you are their number one! OP you are important and l think everyone reading this thread is proud of you, so l hope you can feel that.

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 13:33

I just wish the supposedly important people in my life could be proud. I wish I had someone to share my abuse with or my divorce. Perhaps I wouldn’t have messed it up so much or perhaps it would have hurt less.

OP posts:
Watchkeys · 17/07/2023 13:33

How do you think something good might end up in your future, @Lovel2 ?

What would you like to be in your future (except someone to be proud of you... does your partner not do that? You didn't answer the questions I asked about your relationship, is there a reason you didn't?) What would you like to be more involved with? Tennis? Fighter planes? Knitting? Adventure novels? Violins? Jelly?

What do you want to be in your future? Forget for now how you will get it there, just make a list. What do you want?

Lovel2 · 17/07/2023 13:37

@Watchkeys my partner is a good guy and he stuck with me. I want my health to get better and for my illness to go (it’s not treatable only have to live with it). I want to be able to add to our lives and not to need looking after. I feel a burden now and I hate this feeling. If he decides it’s too much as my illness deteriorates I’ll be in trouble. I hate to feel like this. I won’t be able to care for myself or my children. I want the impossible.

OP posts:
Oblomov23 · 17/07/2023 13:49

You need professional counselling. But before you do, you need to alter your view point of quite a few main issues. Watchkeys gave you some great advice. But you have totally ignored it, actually misunderstood it, and can't seem to grasp what she is saying. Which is concerning because counselling will be a waste of time, because you just aren't listening.

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