I'm 18. I get along very well with my mum, she's the funniest person I know. She's so incredibly supportive too, but I feel she over-exaggerates my abilities, therefore she has very high expectations of me.

I love my mother. I guess the only thing I don't like about her is her narrow-minded approach to mental health. At a young age, I learned not to go to her for emotional support when I felt distressed because she ignores it. In a way, it's not her fault; she's lived a hard life and hates seeing her children in pain, especially when she can't fix it. But I could've really benefited with some parental guidance when I was in my early teens and stumbling through my emotions.

I remember every time I broke down, instead of helping me deal with my emotions, she'd immediately set up an appointment with my psychologist without even a "everything will be alright, anak", and that kinda fucked me up. Now, I'm so emotionally distant from her especially when I'm feeling shitty, and I feel like I have to do all this on my own, and so I turn to unhealthy ways of coping. BUT my mother is absolutely incredible. I love her so much and I accept her flaws as she accepts mine. She gives so much space and freedom to form my own identity and opinions about the world and to immerse myself in creativity, and she genuinely listens to my ideas and aspirations. She's a beacon of light, and I strive to be like her.

My relationship with my father, on the other hand, is pretty much non-existent. He splits his time between Kuwait and my home country, and I live in Australia, so we really have no time to see each other. He claims to love me, and I believe him somewhat. To me, he's kind of just there... financially. He's contributing to my education, for which I'm grateful, but he caused me and everyone I love a whole lot of pain in the past. There's a part of me that still despises him, but on the whole... I don't have a lot of feelings towards him. I've accepted him but I don't know if I can forgive him, if I even care to anymore.