My mother and father took really good care of me. My mother surrendered her body for nine months to bring me to term, my father worked long nights to afford me, and together they toiled and sacrificed to make sure I'd have a good life. They scraped up a house so that I'd go to a good school system, they instilled me with many life lessons and skills that carried me far, and their interest in my success and well-being continued into my adolescence. They bought me my first car so I could go to work and be independent. They always had answers and suggestions for things I'd never done before. I knew I could go to them for anything and they would help me through it. I am where I am today because they were always there with a plan. I owe them my life and I am extremely grateful for everything they've done for me since before I was even born.
Unfortunately, you don't have to be good people to be good parents. My parents are also selfish, violent, and hateful people without a shred of empathy or compassion. My father is a maniac who berated and humiliated me at every turn. My mother is a suppressive depressive who guilted me for ever being upset or wanting to talk about things. They gave me everything, but also made me feel worthless. They shamed me. They made me afraid to go home after school. They made me want to work long hours so I didn't have to see them. They made me afraid to tell them anything or introduce them to my friends and there was nothing more suffocating or constraining to my mental health and individual growth than their hostility towards me. As a child, they were a necessity. As an adult, they were poison.
There are many times where I can say they were doing the best they could. There were many more times I cannot forgive, rationalize, or overlook.
My parents are despicable and horrible people. Were they not my parents, I would never associate with them. They are exactly the kind of self-obsessed gut-followers I devote my life to combating. They are too much of what I hate to be any semblance of something I can love. Terminating our relationship has made me the happiest I have ever been in my entire miserable life.
I moved out of their house last Christmas morning. My father and I haven't spoken since. I see my mother and sister once a month in a planned, structured, and public dinner outing. I maintain even this much of a relationship out of a sense of obligation and because I want to stay in the will. I do not love my mother and father. I do not think about them except when I am forced to. I truly despise them and would not be begrieved if I never saw either of them again.
I will always be grateful for everything they've done and all they provided for me. I will never forget that, and I will carry that thankfulness in me always. But your parents are just people. Everyone in your family is just people. If they are bad for you, let them go. You have a lot less to lose than you think.
I cannot stress how different my life is without them. It's done absolute wonders for me. It's like a terrible disease I've always had that has only recently been cured. I wouldn't go back for anything.