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Conflict within the family: Fight or flight

by Wendy Owen

Created on: December 15, 2008

Fight or flight has more meaning to me today than I ever dreamed could be possible. It normally means the biological response to acute stress, and a family member is giving me just that. The stress of the whole situation has made me physically ill and unable to deal with my normal everyday activities. The constant interruptions from a person who likes to butt in a cause trouble is out right sickening. There is such a huge conflict between my grown step-daughter and myself that I am now ready to chose flight. This battle has been raging for ten years since I met and married my husband and I feel that I can no longer take anymore. Throughout the years I thought I had a handle on things and knew how to deal with everything she puts out but I am now lost and ready just to tell my husband to pack up and go back to Ohio with her because she spends most of her time trying to act as if she were his wife anyhow.

My husband is a truck driver and I should have known better when I met him with his having three grown daughters I should have just walked away. Having a daughter myself I figured his girls would adapt as well as mine did since they were grown and mine was not, but there I was feet first into this relationship not realizing that his oldest daughter had such emotional issues that she would make my life and my husbands and my relationship a living hell here on earth. With my parents being older they need someone close so my husband moved here to Oklahoma with me and did not think since he was a truck driver and could get to Ohio to see his family any time he wished that it would be such a problem for his daughter who is almost 30 years old. Yet I get hate mail all the time from her saying he needs to be home where he belongs and the name calling is so childish you would not think that she was a grown woman.

All my stress it seems comes from an emotionally challenged child who does not know how to deal with adult situations. She seems to have some fantasy about her daddy moving and living with her and he nor I either one can figure out where that is coming from. I ignored her for years and here lately the stress has angered me to a whole new level and taken on a life of it's own, so therefore now I find myself fighting back and the result is my husband being angered with me for speaking my mind to his little girl and so now I think I have decided that I chose to end things and as painful as divorce is I feel that the relief of not having her in my life any longer will be such a great relief to my nervous system that I will not even miss him. My body and my mind an my heart are just trying to stay afloat with it's own fight or flight reaction and I just chose to end it all so therefore I chose flight.

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