Author: Nadia Cross

Date: April 26, 2025

I’m 45 years old, and more than anything, I just want everyone to leave me the fuck alone.

Work is a constant parade of adults who somehow forgot how to be adults. Every day, someone is poking their head into my office, calling me, emailing me — like I’m some life raft they have to cling to before they make a decision as simple as breathing. It’s exhausting. I’m not your mom. I’m not your therapist. Figure it out.

And then there’s my family. My mom, who has always been controlling, seems to have kicked it into high gear lately, micromanaging my life like I’m still fifteen and about to set the house on fire. My dad, who spent the majority of my childhood chasing women barely older than me, now suddenly wants to play catch-up and be a father. I guess old age has a way of making people feel guilty. Meanwhile, I’m standing here thinking, where the hell were you when I needed a dad the first time?

I’m tired. I’m tired of being the stable one, the reliable one, the one who knows what to do. I just want some space — space to breathe, space to think, space to exist without everyone else’s needs dripping onto me like a leaky faucet.

Is that really too much to ask?