Im afraid of growing up and becoming a nobody because my parents overprotect me too much
Hi. I need some advice on this because I dont know what else to do and I have been crying all afternoon (also english isnt my 1st language, so sorry about that)
ok, so my name is Case, Im currently 16, but this month im turning 17. I was born in a little town in Mexico, where we barely have anything fun to do, and everyone knows each others bussiness. All my life I have lived here and apparently Im never leaving. My parents are good people, they arent perfect, but they love me a lot. There is a major problem here though, and the problem is, they wont let me do ANYTHING. When I was about 8 years old, all of my friends were going on playdates, sleepovers and funny hangouts, I wasnt allowed to do any of that. I didnt have a phone until I was twelve (said phone could only make calls and send texts to THEM) and I didnt have any form of social media until I was 13. Its not because Im a problematic teenager or anything either, I have never drank a drop of alcohol, never touched a cigarrette, not a single curse word has been out of my mouth (even though my father curses at least twice per sentence), never been to an actual party, never been to a club or bar, my grades are perfect (my lowest grade is an A), I have a scholarship of 100% at my school (which means they dont pay a penny for my education), I have never had a boyfriend (Im also not allowed) and I havent even kissed anybody yet, I learn languages and read for FUN, I do gymnastics as a sport and I take care of my 10 year old sister a lot of the time, so I dont see why they are this way with me. At my own home, up until a few months ago, I wasn't allowed to use the stove, the iron, the blowdrier or knives. Now Im allowed, sometimes but not entirely, and I cant even take a shower if my mom isnt home because according to her I might fall and die in the shower. I guess you can tell where this is going, they are really paranoid, specially my mom, but I dont think you can actually picture how I feel. I feel like Im in a prision, and I cant even complain about it, because they are doing it out of love and worry. A few exaples of this are: they didnt let me go to my graduation trip to six flags with my friends two years ago (which I earned because of my grades since the school only allowed the highest grades to attend), they wont let me go to one of my best friend's birthday celebration, they already said Im not going to the next graduation trip to cancun with my friends, and today I had to BEG so they could drive me over to a friend's house to make a SCHOOL PROJECT. We had a huge argument about this with my mom and now she is being really mean to me, and ignoring me. I feel bad for what I said, but I wasn´t disrespectful or anything, and Im just asking for some freedom. Now all of this being said, my biggest dream was to go on an exchange year in America, I begged for about two and a half years, and my mom never even considered the possibility. I tried, I promise I did, I even made a powerpoint presentation with everything she nedded to know about it and offered to get a job or scholarship to pay for it myself, but she just wont let me because she is afraid something might happen to me and she thinks im uncapable... it hurts to see my dreams and my life just slowly dying because of HER fears. The exchange year dream is pretty much impossible now, since this month Ill be 17 and I dont even have a visa and that program only allows people bellow 18, it hurt like hell when I realized it, but now im finding out she doesnt want me going to an other city for college either, let alone an other state or country. I dont wanna sound like your typical whiny teenager who thinks her life is ruined because her parents didnt let her go to a party with her friends, but I do feel like she is limiting me and throwing away all my hard work by not letting me do anything and keeping me here. I even thought about eliminating my existence because whats the point on living if I will only live to drive the same three streets, around the same boring people in the town, studying something I dont even like, with no social life, no husband, no kids, never seeing the world and missing out on experiences. Am I overreacting? Is there anything I can do? Should I just continue to live my life like this? Should I apologize to her? Is keeping my grades and studying even worth it anymore? I need advice please, not just from people my age, but from parents that protect their children too, or people who have been throught the same situation. Thank you so much.