Jealousy
I’ve been thinking a lot about family dysfunction and estrangement lately, and I’m curious if anyone else feels like jealousy or insecurity sometimes plays a bigger role than people want to admit.
Not just normal family conflict, but situations where certain family members seem resentful when you grow, become independent, set boundaries, succeed professionally, or stop overextending yourself for them. Almost like the role they were comfortable with you playing changes, and they react negatively to it.
I’m still healing from cutting off immediate family members, and lately I’ve been questioning other relationships too. Even the people who stay “neutral” sometimes still relay information, gossip, or participate indirectly in the same dynamics.
What’s been bothering me is realizing how much I normalized. I would drive 8 hours across the state once or twice a month for over a year to visit family, but the one time I chose not to for my birthday, it became an issue. Meanwhile, I see some of the same people putting on appearances online or subtly competing while also accusing me of “thinking I’m better” simply because of my career or accomplishments. ( For example I’m an analyst by trade and work for a well known Company, this person is by no means the definition of analyst but has it listed as their job title on all social media platforms. )
It’s made me wonder if sometimes the scapegoat in a dysfunctional family becomes the target partly because they threaten other people’s insecurities just by growing beyond the role they were assigned.
Has anyone else experienced this?