**Anonymous post**

I don’t have any family support. Can I still create a life worth living?

I’m the black sheep of the family. No matter how successful I am, or how hard I try, my immediate family (mother, father, siblings) don’t want much to do with me.

My dad up & left when I was a baby, remarried and had my younger brothers. My mum did her absolute best to raise me as a single parent, and a child herself, while going to uni trying to make a better life for her/us. She met another man, married him. Despite her efforts, she was inconsistent, verbally abusive and just generally unpredictable & selfish.

Fast forward 20 years in my late thirties. After a decade living in another continent and building a successful career/life, I try to move back to my original part of the world. I’m so scared by my childhood. Came back to my home country to try and make things work — it’s clear nothing has really changed and I’m not a priority in my family’s lives.