When did you realize that your parents live in a reality parallel to the one you live in?
I’m not going to write a massive rant here, nor am I going to badmouth the parents who are supporting me at age 19. But... it’s becoming pretty unbearable to keep pretending—after months of study—that they’re always right, or that I shouldn't question their "common sense" (even when that common sense would only have worked in the 90s or 2000s, and we’re in 2026). It’s simply unbearable how my parents flip-flop: they want me to disappear or spread my wings, yet they want to control my every move; they refuse to stand by what they said earlier, yet deny having said it at all just to pretend they didn't spout nonsense.
And on top of all that, I have to deal with being completely alone—social interactions are either hellishly toxic or painfully superficial ("liquid modernity")—and the burden of knowing that if I don't hustle, nobody cares whether I’m good enough or not, especially when factors like my appearance, voice, scent, and even parts of my personality come into play (the halo effect).