Nothing significant has changed. I had a big fight with a friend but we have recently sorted it out, and this was happening before that anyway. I think the biggest trigger is my brother and his kids. I dont get on with him, I never have. He's 7 years older than me and we have nothing in common so we dont really have anything to do with each other, as generally any conversation we have will end in an argument same as it did when we were kids. I still live at home with my parents, mainly because Im single so I just cant afford to leave on my own, and as bad as it sounds, Im generally comfortable here. My brother has 3 kids, with two mothers, neither of whom he is still with, and the kids live with their mums but tend to see a lot of him, the two youngest mainly because their mother is a selfish wench who cant be bothered with them so any opportunity to palm them off on someone else is one she never misses. So when my brother has them, they are here. He is basically taking advantage of my mum and her willingness to do anything for them, despite her working full time, every spare moment, she is generally looking after his kids for him, to the detriment of everyone else. She continually lets him get all 3 of them to sleep in ours, despite the fact it means my dad (who works 6 days a week as well starting at 6am) has to sleep on the couch. I likewise work shifts so will sometimes have a sleep in the afternoon when I finish, only to be generally woken up by them running around. I dont dislike the kids, I love them I really do and like spending time with them. But the longer this goes on, the more I feel Im starting to resent them being here. At the end of the day, Im single and dont have kids, but I feel like Im having to deal with all the unpleasant hard parts of having kids when I dont even have any! And without having a say, because of course Im not their mum so anything I say in relation to the way he behaves towards them is obviously wrong.
I have other problems, so does everybody. But Im generally fairly laid back, confident and impulsive, dont worry about things and can deal with anything. But recently, I feel like a middle child. He's my older brother so despite him being nasty, obnoxious and selfish, he is my mums blue eyed boy and she wont tell him now like she wouldnt then. The kids are little kids, so they get away with murder. Im the middle child, the one who generally gets ignored, has no say on anything that affects me, and generally just exists. And because obviously Im the only one who lives here all the time, Im the one who gets it in the neck when its all getting too stressful for my mum, who would never dream of saying these things to him. Again going back to being out of the football season, Im away every other weekend so dont get it as much when the season is going on. But during the summer, Im here if Im not in work, so Im seeing it a lot more.
Interesting...Id say only number 1 and 2 in the approach strategy are me, I like things done a certain way, and I like to make sure I have all the answers before I make a decision. But once my mind is made up, Im impulsive and go for it. The avoidance strategy though sounds a lot like me in all aspects of life...
