Our families must be reading from the same playbook. The pain of putting up with their sh*t finally outweighed the pain of doing without them, and so I went No Contact. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Do I struggle a bit more without occasional financial help? Sure, but all of that money was tainted. I'd rather struggle and make it on my own than be owned by them. It's not an easy choice. I had to accept that my mother never intended to give me her approval or validation for anything, so my efforts were all a waste of time and sanity. It's not you, I can promise you that. (((Hugs)))