Am I being selfish?
For some background, I am 24 years old now and my parents divorced when I was 17. Admittedly I am still pretty upset about the whole situation because I feel it really divided my family and put a strain on my relationships with both of my parents and my two younger sisters (they are 20 now). My mother remarried and moved to another state and my dad is still in the same area with a now long-term partner (soon to be married). I have never, throughout these past 7 years, had any desire whatsoever to establish a connection to their new partners. I have made attempts to have a good attitude and attend gatherings, but I still feel the same way. I am never explicitly rude, but do think I come off cold towards them. This has upset my mother a lot, since she has tried (and forced me at times) to make a connection with her new husband and his family. My dad doesn’t seem too bothered with it and he has never tried to force things in the same way my mom has. I just can’t bring myself to fake being interested in these people. I didn’t get to choose my family being destroyed, so why am I obligated to just accept these people as my new family and treat them as such? I want my parents to be happy and I’m glad they found people, but I just don’t care to make a connection with their new partners/family. There’s a lot more info here that I could sit and explain but it would take forever. The main point of this is to ask: Am I being childish and or selfish by being cold towards my “step family”?