a letter to my parents
dear mom and dad
i’m sorry. i know that you’re trying your hardest, but it does not remove the fact you’ve hurt me. you may not understand what you’ve done, but it has hurt me extremely emotionally. i have self harmed for years, but i am terrified to tell you.
i want help. i need help, because i want to stop. i want to manage this, and i want to get better, but i am so terrified of you turning me away or saying that i am overreacting. my awareness of my mental problems is not an obsession. it has never been. this letter is not built off obsession or delusion, this is a real thing and i cannot deny it forever. i don’t want to keep hiding, i want to come out. i want to show the world im capable but at the moment i need help and support to do that.
this is not attention seeking. if it was, you would’ve known far before this point. the Band-Aids on my body from “accidentally” knocking into things or clumsy mistakes were never unintentional. i’m sorry i lied to you for so long but i believed it’d be safer.
i’m sorry i could not be the child you may have been prepared to deal with, but i am here now. there is no way to simply remove me from your lives. i want you to know that i love you both and this is why i am opening up. this is not me being weak, it is me being strong enough to accept my weakness and try to grow better.
i do not know if ill be able to send this letter. it sits in a notepad waiting for something to happen, and i do not know if it will ever get sent to you directly, but i hope one day i will get that courage. i want to become stronger. i will become stronger.
sincerely, your son.
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An anonymous submission.












