u/Majestic_Fact_3689

So a little bit about my current situation: I am 21 and working at my father’s company. The company has two business branches: one that does well on its own, and another focused on innovation and developing a new product. I work in the innovation branch with my father and two other employees.

I also think it would be appropriate to mention that I resent my father, although I never show it because I would hate to initiate unnecessary conflict. I was emotionally neglected, though that seems to be fairly pervasive, and I directed my entire life and career path toward his will because I always strived for his approval.

I started working there immediatly after High School and worked long hours to make sure that the people working with me would be happy with my performance. Fast forward two years to today: I want to go to university to study psychology, which means I would have to quit my position within the company. Though by now my dad seems to have made up his mind that i will continue the company since he will go into retirement in the next few months. We talked about me going to study to university once one year ago and he started getting mad and smashing things. Since then he talked to a lot of his friends who have kids to and they told him that their children had the freedom to choose to do what they love, so maybe his views changed.

During discussions i usually stay calm and try to use fact-based arguments even though I am a very emotional person, but he gets mad and digs himself into the victim-role nonetheless, refusing to acknowledge the issues I want to discuss. I always fell for this manipulative tactic and now I am not sure if I am still falling for it, though now I at least aknowledge that his only goal is to get what he wants from me, not my happiness.

One thing I am also worried about is what my coworkers will think, I am very afraid that they may get mad beacause the workload we need to handle is quite large. Towards that matter I think that quitting with a few months notice would be the best thing, although i am not sure if that will be possible, considering how my father may react. In that case I am also afraid of how my coworkers will behave towards me.

As I said I am an immensely anxious and easily distressed person, so I am looking for advice of how to get out of this situation.

PS.: English is not my first language, so please, excuse any mistakes.

So a little bit about my current situation: I am 21 and working at my father’s company. The company has two business branches: one that does well on its own, and another focused on innovation and developing a new product. I work in the innovation branch with my father and two other employees.

I also think it would be appropriate to mention that I resent my father, although I never show it because I would hate to initiate unnecessary conflict. I was emotionally neglected, though that seems to be fairly pervasive, and I directed my entire life and career path toward his will because I always strived for his approval.

I started working there immediatly after High School and worked long hours to make sure that the people working with me would be happy with my performance. Fast forward two years to today: I want to go to university to study psychology, which means I would have to quit my position within the company. Though by now my dad seems to have made up his mind that i will continue the company since he will go into retirement in the next few months. We talked about me going to study to university once one year ago and he started getting mad and smashing things. Since then he talked to a lot of his friends who have kids to and they told him that their children had the freedom to choose to do what they love, so maybe his views changed.

During discussions i usually stay calm and try to use fact-based arguments even though I am a very emotional person, but he gets mad and digs himself into the victim-role nonetheless, refusing to acknowledge the issues I want to discuss. I always fell for this manipulative tactic and now I am not sure if I am still falling for it, though now I at least aknowledge that his only goal is to get what he wants from me, not my happiness.

One thing I am also worried about is what my coworkers will think, I am very afraid that they may get mad beacause the workload we need to handle is quite large. Towards that matter I think that quitting with a few months notice would be the best thing, although i am not sure if that will be possible, considering how my father may react. In that case I am also afraid of how my coworkers will behave towards me.

As I said I am an immensely anxious and easily distressed person, so I am looking for advice of how to get out of this situation.

PS.: English is not my first language, so please, excuse any mistakes.