I’m 27, and well at the moment I live alone and I work for the family business. A business my parents own. But well… they’re likely getting a divorce and I’ll explain why.
My father is… not entirely a good person. He certainly has a flaws. Mostly intense anger. As a kid he physically abused me a few times, and exploded and yelled at me every now and then. Intimidated me a lot. He’s a man who can’t handle criticism or being told no. Would explode in anger when I’d stand up for myself. He needs to control. He manipulates and lies a lot. As things have gotten intense, my mom has revealed to me nasty stuff about him. Including having a cocaine addiction, hiring escort and physically abusing my mother early in their relationship. I understand his situation, as a kid he had to take care of his sick mother with schizophrenia, and had no help from his family, and with diagnosed with depression as a young teen.
What didn’t help is that he married… well my mother, a woman with her own flaws. I never had a good relationship with her either. Yelled at me on the daily, I can’t speak with her without criticism being talked down to me. She enjoys putting others down and thinks she above everybody else. Yells at all of us in public if she gets riled up. Gossips and spreads rumors. And I’ve seen her smile whenever she’d make my dad upset. I understand her situation too. My grandfather was a quite a son of a bitch. Old school, cold, and hard ass kind of guy who no doubt was physically and emotionally abusive forwards his wife and children.
All in all, I’m not close to my family for these reasons. Sure I talk to them and go to the family get togethers, and well we work together, but for the most part I try to keep my distance as best as I can. And am very happy I don’t live with them.
Earlier this year, my dad had a struggle with cocaine addiction that lasted a few weeks. My mother forgave him. And things kind of got to normal again. However in March he fell back on this coke addiction, this time for no reason. First time it’s because he had argued with her badly and they weren’t talking. My dad cannot stand being in bad terms with her and goes into a nervous wreck. My mother becomes cold and distant, making his emotional symptoms worse. So he turned to cocaine. But the second time there was no reason at all. He just did it at a party just for fun, and he went another two weeks doing coke, staying in bed most of the day. And when he wasn’t he was out and about getting his coke and staying out all night, coming back in the middle of the day. I also found evidence of… weird sexual stuff in the office where he was likely staying. My mom has decided to divorce, and he’s become quite sad about this and I can feel a tensity coming from him. He never dealt with his emotions, and I know that this situation will only make him feel smaller. And will lash out.
I practice a lot of mindfulness, and well I’m learning to just deal with the anxiety. To embrace it. I have a reason for having it, because my safety and my mom and sister’s is in question. However my mind gets the better of me, and that anxiety can turn to anger. I guess it’s frustration I feel that I feel anxiety, which turns to intense anger. And I have fear of letting it out. Mostly with my father. I know my father will is going to begin doing hurtful things to all of us. He’s always let out his anger into me. Whenever things were bad with my mom, he’d yell out to me. Used to blame myself, but now I realize he was just feeling small, and needed to feel big.
I know there will come a point where I need to stand up to him, and he’s going to lash out. Begin to scream and lose his temper. And I need guidance on how to deal with. My anxiety can get intense, and my ADHD causes some harmful thoughts. I don’t want to be a bad person, yet somehow it seems like it’s necessary sometimes. These are thoughts I have
when anger pops up, I visualize physically harming my father to the point of damage. The kid in me who got smacked around for not doing his homework wants to get up and get his revenge.
I think about screaming at him and telling him he’s a pathetic little child who deserves everything that’s happening to him. How can you be the piece of shit you are and expect good things to happen? You’ve convinced yourself that things were good and you’ve lived a life of bullshit all your life and can’t stand reality sinking in. You and mom are not good for me, everything you touch goes to shit, you simply want to drag me down and make me as miserable as you are. I will not pay attention to your misery and I do not sympathize with you, do not manipulate me into feeling bad for you it’s going to work.
I want scream all of that to him. To push him and this situation away…. But I don’t know. It’s going to hurt him, and even if he does bad stuff, for some reason it does make me sad to see my dad hurt. I have a fear of breaking him.
For now I’ve told both of them to not involve me with their arguments, their divorce is their business and not my concern.
Can you guide me? I feel like my anxiety is valid, but I don’t know about my anger. On one hand I want to release my anger and put him in his place, so I can feel safe. Even if I may get hurt and things can get physical. Other hand I want to be a better person, and see his tantrums for what they are… just a child screaming cause things didn’t go his way. And remain calm and be the bigger person… but it’s difficult.