Tuesday

Are you coping with a difficult, aging parent? How do you stay sane?

It's been a while since I've written here. I've thought about it but just haven't had much to say that was suitable to share publicly.

To say I've been struggling in my relationship with my mom would be an understatement and because of this I've been doing a lot of soul searching and a bit of whining. Ok, maybe its the other way around, you'd have to ask my poor husband.

How people affect us affects those around us, I think we can all agree that's a fact.

In my marriage to my son's dad I reached that point where I needed to shut up about all the difficulties, people had listened enough. I either needed to do something about the bad relationship or quit putting it on everyone else by constantly talking about our issues. Ultimately, I did something about it and got out of the marriage.

What does a person do when the difficult person in your life is a parent? I know some people just walk away, cut the parent out of their life but I just can't. My conscience won't allow it. So, how do I cope?

How do we deal with an aging, difficult parent? I googled it and found an article written on the subject. Judging by the hundreds of ongoing comments at the piece, I am not alone, something I found comforting,

I will figure it out. Figure out how to be myself yet disassociate (as much as possible) emotionally. Figure out how to utilize my support system without alienating and driving everyone crazy.

I will not let my difficult parent turn me into the kind of person who is a complete drag to be around.

All women are not mother material and I am not the only person who's never had the perfect mom for me.

How do you cope?