Living a Life That’s Disappointing to Your Parents

Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash

I’ve read that writing (especially on Medium) is like therapy. Hence, this is more a personal therapy session than a post.

It’s about something few people address. It’s an observation about living a life that’s disappointing to your parents.

And I am not talking about extreme things like drugs, alcohol, and sporadic sex with strangers.

Rather, I am talking about choices that we all, inevitably, make in life.

Sometimes these choices conflict with what out parents wanted for us and that creates a certain distance (a gap) in understanding. And if you want to have a deep and meaningful relationship with your family, you’ve got to be the one making the step forward.

How They Expected Me To Be

We are raised to be good children. However, the word “good” has as many definitions, as there are families in the world.

In some families, being good means following the “way of God” or living a sinless life, helping those in need and not being too greedy.

In other families (like mine) it means doing what is expected of you. And that oftentimes correlates with either being like one of your parents (e.g., a replica of your dad or mom) — or behaving a certain way (e.g., making money…