Reply to Giving up on family? Not much there. Anyone relate?

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes, I can related OP. My family has a long history of mental illness and substance abuse that meant fractured/limited/poor relationships with extended family for my whole life.

My parents and all of their generation are now gone and I have two siblings and a couple of cousins but they all, literally all, are in the weeds with addiction and mental illness.

I have really been mourning the absence of any healthy family relationships for me, and for my kids. It's very hard. I'm sorry you're in a similar position.

I take some comfort in knowing that in keeping such limited relationships w/ the surviving family members I am actively protecting my kids. They are being raised in a much healthier environment than I was so I feel like I'm doing the best I can to stop the cycle.

I have also worked very hard to develop strong friendships, and I've been blessed in that department. So my kids have several honorary "aunts/uncles/cousins" who genuinely feel like family to them. It's not truly family of course, but they are deeply important and they are strong, healthy loving relationships.

And I've spend a TON of time in therapy working through all of this for myself so that I can feel ok, be a good mom, help my kids find their way, etc...

Good luck OP. If we knew each other in real life we could commiserate.[/quote]

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