Absent Father
You would expect a parent to be someone who pours all their love into their children. A role model. Somebody who builds people up. Encourages you. It's not the case for me. My father has always been somewhat absent in key moments of my life. I wouldn't say that he was never there. However, when he was, I never felt supported by him. When family is the focus of conversation, he always brings up ways we fail. Never our accomplishments, never our interests, never anything good. I grew up with a misconstrued perception of family. I have always felt smaller than my father. Not because I lacked in any way, but because he tells me I do. I am a burden to him even when I help him with tasks he doesn't know how to do. If I lash out in any way about the mistreatment. He tells me that my words don't hold weight because I have nothing to show for it. That all my accomplishments are worth recognizing. I don't have the greatest self-esteem as a result. When things don't wor...