So I’ve been struggling with strict parents my whole life. And I understand and respect them for keeping me safe all these years of my life with their strict (somehow logical) rules but I feel like they have destroyed me. Me being the type of child obeying their rules, not only I’ve been bullied multiple times about it (which is not the major problem), but also I’ve wasted so many years of my life not making awesome memories that most people my age have. And by this I don’t mean sex.

Here’s a small list of things I still am not allowed to do even though I’m an adult now:

1. Go to the beach with friends (they get mad whenever I ask them this)

2. Do sleepovers (at the moment I really don’t care but when I was young and wanted to have some I wasn’t allowed to)

3. Drive at night (And when I drive at day they allow me only short distances)

4. Wear certain clothes ie. Shorts, mini dresses, tops that show a lot of skin (even though i have a pretty small breasts)

5. Use a bus to go out (long or short distances)

6. Have laser hair removal (all girls my age have done it, I’m the only one still waxing and that’s annoying. My mother claims that it’s dangerous and that’s why she doesn’t allow me. She have done it to herself though. Nothing to do with money matters.)

7. Have a boyfriend (even though my dad sometimes makes jokes at me for not going out with any boy, as If he wants me to get a boy when he doesn’t)

8. Post pictures of me on instagram (especially pictures showing my body/ in swimwear etc.)

All these things make me do bad decisions and my parents are not aware of any of the mistakes I have done recently because of how strict they are with me. One of these is that I have talked with guys online (tinder) and exchanged pics (selfies and bikini pics, no nudes thank God) with them just because I’m thriving for attention I get from nobody. I’m locked home 24/7 where I could be out socializing and going to awesome places. I am super insecure and super antisocial and that is really really hard to fix from now on. They have destroyed me. I really don’t know who I really am because I have grown under restrictions which haven’t allowed me to develop a unique personality.

When I said all these to my parents, they just acted as if I’m talking rubbish. When I told them that, instead of them telling me to have great time and make memories rather than wasting my life like they did, they put me boundaries and make me have no life, my mother responded “I don’t feel like I wasted my life, and I had the same as yours”. She’ll always say to me how she hated to go out especially at nights and never had a boyfriend as a young girl because she never was interested, and I really get annoyed. As if we are the same person and we live in the same era.

This post ended to be long, but I’m really bothered by the fact that I have no freedom or understanding at all. I understand them wanting me to be safe and that’s why I have been honest to them my whole life (something that has ended as now I have secrets from them, something that they have caused). Why don’t they understand me wanting to live the best life possible?