"It starts at the front door when your parents pummel you with questions. Before you can even get your coat off, they also ask you to sort through an old bag of clothes from high school, and the next morning, you wake up from the slam of the vacuum cleaner against your bedroom door at 6 a.m. To put it bluntly: Being home is overwhelming."
"As the visit continues, the tension rises. Even though you know they're excited to see you, and you understand they're just trying to be good hosts, it doesn't stop the annoyance from bubbling up inside, almost as if you're regressing back to your teenage years. In an instant, you're no longer the successful 32-year-old with a job and her own apartment; you're a snappy 15-year-old rolling her eyes at the dinner table."
"Once the holidays are over, nothing feels better than fleeing the chaos and returning to the quiet solitude of your own home. Sometimes, the relief sets in before you even pull out of the driveway. But for many, so does the guilt. On TikTok, creator @doolapeep628 said she was essentially in fight-or-flight mode her entire visit, and it meant she had a lot to process once the holidays were over."
The lead-up to the holidays often creates idyllic expectations of cozy gatherings, but reality can be chaotic and overwhelming. Arrivals can begin with intrusive questions, requests to sort old belongings, and early-morning noise that disrupts rest. Tension can build during visits, prompting emotional regression where adults feel like their teenage selves again. Many people experience annoyance and guilt simultaneously, knowing they should savor time with family yet feeling on edge throughout the trip. After leaving, relief at returning home frequently coexists with shame for having felt bratty or impatient. Social platforms like TikTok capture creators describing fight-or-flight responses and the complex processing that follows holiday visits.
Read at Bustle
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