When I visit home, my parents still treat me like the kid who needed guidance. They tell me what clothes I should wear, what job is “secure,” even who I should date. I laugh it off, but inside, it cuts. I’m almost thirty, but when I sit at that old dining table, under the same flickering lightbulb, I feel fifteen again—powerless, unheard, small. I’ve built a life outside their walls, but inside them, I shrink back into the child they expect me to be. #Life #Family #Identity