I resent that my mother’s chronic illness controls every aspect of my life. While insisting that she doesn’t want to hold my personal or professional life back, she also affects everything: if I can move for a promotion to just being able to listen to a podcast for longer than 10 minutes without interruption (I’ve timed it. The record is 22 minutes). Neither of my parents have ever respected boundaries, and I’ve always been the favorite child because I never pushed back. I need to support her, since she legitimately needs help physically, emotionally, and financially, but damn, I need space.
