When times are uncertain you may be forced to rely on your family. Of course, you’re thankful that you have them. But living with your parents as an adult can have a lot of downsides as well. With the current COVID-19 pandemic, many adults have been living with their parents because they are unable to work or need to get out of the city. Regardless of the reason, it’s pretty normal to expect some sort of feelings to come up in the process.
The most obvious difficulty you could run into is feeling like you are a child again. This can feel like you are losing your independence. This can also bring up an unresolved childhood trauma if you have any. It can be helpful to work with a therapist through childhood trauma to prevent it from affecting your adult life. You can also feel like you have regressed (instead of progressed) in your life. This isn’t true, but it’s a common feeling to have when one is put back into their childhood surroundings.
The good news is, there are some things you can do to help ease these feelings.
Check in with your mental health
When living with your parents as an adult, it’s important to check in with your mental health. This can be done with a help of a therapist either in person or virtually. If you do have any unresolved childhood trauma, you can work through that with them. Even if you don’t, it’s still helpful to have a sounding board to talk through any struggles with.
Keep busy
Try to keep yourself busy with activities you may not have had time (or money) for. If you are living with your parents you are sending less on rent. Any activity that is good for your mental health is worth the investment.
Stay social
Make sure you are still partaking in socialization with other people your age. Like we mentioned earlier, you love your parents. But it can be overwhelming to only socialize with your parents. Even if you’re unable to go and physically see friends due to distance, even a coffee date via video chat can do the trick.
There may be times in your life where you will need to lean into your parent’s help. Being an adult is tough and it’s okay to ask for help if you need it. You are not unsuccessful, you are not incapable, and it won’t be like this forever. If you are able to, being able to see your situation with gratefulness can be incredibly helpful. Some people don’t have parents willing to let them live with them when times are hard. If you have that, that’s a blessing in itself. Not to say the situation won’t bring its challenges, but there is a lot of good that comes with it too. Not only will it help you, but you’ll probably help your parents too. It could be the bonding experience you both needed.