My parents homeschooled me from third grade onwards. I believed them when they said I was getting a good education. "You'll just have to learn it all again in college," they said. So, college came, and that's when I realized everything was wrong. I didn't have a good education. I also didn't have any friends. (I had wanted friends, but almost every time I asked to hang out with people after church, it was always, "Not today.") I didn't have any work experience because they didn't allow me to have a job until I was out of high school, even though I only spent about three hours every workday doing anything school-related. Having no connections, a poor education, and no work experience makes it difficult to find any sort of work. And without work, I'm stuck in life.

They know how I feel about what they've done, but what they don't know is the extent to which I struggle. It's hard to make progress when I constantly think about how far behind my peers I am. I hide my lack of knowledge and skills from others the best I can just so I won't look incompetent. I feel like I can't be myself, whatever that may look like, because it'll just look pathetic.

I think the worst part is I'm beginning to lose myself in all of this. I've wanted to protect my sisters from the same fate I have, but lately I've begun to notice that it's turning more into a desire of revenge. I don't want my parents' help anymore (not like their giving it, anyway). I just want them to know what I feel. It's not fair that I have to live with their mistakes. They should have to bear some of this pain. I see them talking to their friends, living their lives, but I'm just here. Only me, stuck in life. Whatever. I don't know.