Your heart will feel lighter once you accept that you can’t make them happy, fix their lives, or make them proud of you. It’s usually beyond them to think about your feelings, and they can’t sustain reciprocal emotional intimacies. They won’t listen to you for long, and nothing you do may ever be enough. They’ll continue to see you in the role as their child, not a full capable adult. They’ll exert dominance and demand to be the most important person in the relationship. Their interests will always come first, and even if you are a model adult, they may still be critical, demeaning, or
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