Age 25: I Was a Parent to My ParentsThat 'maturity' you were praised for has a hidden cost.

This is for anyone who was told they were “so mature for their age.” Being the responsible one meant taking care of everyone else, but no one took care of me. It was a lonely role praised by adults, but it was actually a form of emotional neglect. That childhood survival tactic has shaped my adult life, leaving me with an overdeveloped sense of duty and an inability to form healthy relationships. Now, I'm grieving the youth I never had and trying to learn who I am outside of being a caregiver.

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