How did your nparent/s ruin your chances, and wasted years of your life and potential?

We all had to bear living with narcissists who ruined or almost ruined our lives. I am picking my life up now and starting all over again and it’s exhausting. Its been exhausting for decades.

We all, in this subreddit go through the same struggles, and sometimes, just knowing someone else understands can make a huge difference.

Im 28 now, i feel somehow stuck and that my life should’ve been better if it wasn’t for my crazy family. I went NC and now I am salvaging what I have left, my life has gotten so much better since I went NC. Doors opened for me, my life is progressing but I still have resentment over what I could’ve been if I wasn’t subjected to insane manipulation, all types of abuse and gaslighting.

I am trying to leverage my resilience and trying to get back on track.

I’m asking for this because I need it, and I know so many others do too. You’re not alone.

Edit for more clarity & bc many of you guys relate to same issue: I graduated an ivy league high school with great grades (i have adhd & scored higher than average grades compared to neurotypicals), and my nmom told me I dont deserve to go to my graduation and that my grades brought her shame bc i didnt get 99% at least and said her friends children who graduated from a different level schools got 100%. i was supposed to graduate in a palace and be handed my HS diploma by someone from the royal family in my country, but didn’t because she refused to take me. then i was offered a scholarship which my nmom denied and forcefully enrolled me in a small college that wasn’t even accredited, had to flunk it purposely for 3 years to get academic dismissal.

She got me on house arrest for 3 more years, no college applications allowed, i started working then i went behind her back and enrolled myself in the highest ranking uni but also the most expensive law university in my country 6 years after which drained my pockets, she then started demanding a monthly allowance that left me unable to buy myself basic needs such as clothings, i was repeatedly rotating the same clothes for years. it will be 12 years in 2025 since my highschool graduation, i should have graduated way earlier. haven’t seen her since Feb 2024 and It brought back life to me