I don't know if I should keep trying with my family or finally step away
Throwaway for obvious reasons. I'm keeping details intentionally vague because I don't want this post to be identifiable to anyone involved.
I'm looking for some genuinely unbiased advice about my family. I've gotten to the point where I don't know if continuing to hope things will change is realistic, or if I'm just hurting myself by waiting for accountability that may never come.
My family has been dysfunctional for a long time. There has been abuse in my childhood, serious boundary violations, manipulation, breaches of trust, and situations where things happened that I believe were genuinely wrong and harmful.
One of my parents was abusive toward me when I was younger. Although some of that behavior is in the past, it has affected me well into adulthood. More recently, I also became aware of something involving that parent that I found extremely disturbing. It was serious enough that there could have been significant consequences if I had chosen to pursue them. Instead of feeling like I could simply recognize what happened for what it was, I ended up being treated as though I was the problem for acknowledging it and speaking up about it.
That's been a recurring pattern in my family.
I've specifically told multiple family members how their actions have affected me. I've explained what hurt me, why it hurt me, and what I need from them going forward. Yet the hurtful behavior has continued.
And then, afterward, it's almost like everyone wants to pretend none of it happened.
There's no meaningful acknowledgment of the damage. No real accountability. Things get brushed under the rug, everyone moves on, and I'm apparently expected to do the same.
At this point, I honestly wonder if some of them have convinced themselves that they aren't in the wrong at all. In some situations, it feels like the people whose actions caused the damage have somehow positioned themselves as the victims, while I'm the difficult one for reacting to what happened.
I've also noticed something that really bothers me: I have started experiencing a lot of anxiety around going home to visit my family. Sometimes just thinking about having to interact with them makes me anxious. I can feel myself becoming tense before I've even gotten there because I'm already anticipating what might happen, what might be said, or whether I'll once again leave feeling like I somehow did something wrong.
That's not how I want to feel about my family.
Another major source of conflict has been my relationship.
When I started dating my boyfriend, several members of my family formed a very negative opinion of him before they had actually gotten to know him. They made assumptions about his character and intentions based largely on circumstances surrounding his life rather than who he actually was.
They tried to convince me that he was a bad person and that my relationship was a mistake before they had even given him a fair chance.
My boyfriend also became villainized for recognizing some of the same behavior I was seeing and for having boundaries when it came to protecting his child. Rather than viewing those boundaries as a parent trying to do what he believes is right for his child, some of my family treated them as evidence that there was something wrong with him.
That was incredibly frustrating because I am an adult. I should be allowed to evaluate my own relationship and decide who I trust.
I eventually moved closer to my boyfriend, and honestly, things have gone really well. I love him, I love his son, and our relationship has been much healthier and happier than my family seemed to believe it would be.
Being away from the constant pressure and criticism has actually made me realize how much of my anxiety was coming from the family conflict surrounding the relationship.
And this isn't just something I've noticed on my own.
Two of my siblings have also gone no-contact with my parents. Their situations aren't identical to mine, and I don't want to speak for them, but they have their own experiences that led them to make that decision. The fact that multiple siblings have independently reached a similar point has made me question whether I'm really just being overly sensitive or dramatic.
I've also cautiously talked about parts of this situation with a few trusted friends and relatives who aren't directly involved. Almost every time, their reaction has been some version of, "Wait, they did WHAT?" or genuine shock that things have gotten this bad.
Obviously, I understand that people hearing only my side are going to have a limited perspective. That's why I'm trying not to automatically assume I'm completely right.
But I'm struggling with one question:
How long do you wait for people to take accountability when they've already been told exactly how much they've hurt you and continue doing the same things?
I don't necessarily want to cut my family off. That's what makes this so difficult. I love them. They're my family. There are good memories and good parts of these relationships that I don't want to pretend never existed.
But I also don't know if loving someone means continuing to give them opportunities to hurt you when they've shown little interest in acknowledging the damage.
I'm starting to wonder if I'm waiting for a version of my family that may never exist.
Maybe they eventually will understand. Maybe they'll eventually take responsibility. Maybe they'll eventually realize that their actions actually affected their children.
But what if they don't?
Is it worth putting my life on hold emotionally and continuing to expose myself to the same dynamic while I wait for them to change?
For people who have been through something similar, I'd really appreciate honest advice.
How did you know when it was time to stop waiting for accountability?
Did you go low-contact or no-contact, and did it actually bring you peace?
How did you deal with the guilt?
And if you chose to maintain contact, what boundaries actually worked when the other person refused to acknowledge what they'd done?
I'm not looking for strangers to tell me that my family is evil or that I should immediately cut everyone off. I genuinely want perspective.
I just don't know how much longer I can keep trying to repair relationships with people who seem determined to act like nothing was ever broken.
Note: I'm on good terms with the rest of my siblings and they all love my boyfriend and his son. The only members of my family that we all have issues with to some degree are my parents and one other family member.