I feel like I'm completely broken, defective, and having a full-blown identity crisis. I don't know who I am anymore.
I didn't grow up in extreme poverty or with parents abusing drugs, and I know life could always be worse, but my household was severely strict and emotionally and socially dead. My dadās severe depression and mental illness dominated our home, making him controlling and verbally, mentally, emotionally, and at times physically abusive. My mom, my sister, and I survived by keeping our mouths shut and staying invisible. The house was dead silent unless something was an urgent necessity. When guests came over, my dad would just sit there awkward and silent while my mom and sister carried the entire conversation so things wouldn't feel weird.
I somehow worked hard enough to get into a good public college, but seeing everyone else be socially developed, easily make friends, go to classes together, hang afterwards, and enjoy summer breaks together made me feel like an alien who never belonged. I found solace in quiet and computer games to distract myself from the severe loneliness. Never felt like I had anyone in my life i could talk to or get close with. This impacted my romantic life heavily. Because I never got to date as my authentic self, I faked a persona on online dating sites. It was easier for me to cower behind a screen than look desperate in person and face rejection which my already crippled low self-esteem and self-confidence couldnt handle. I consider myself a painfully average to below-average looking guy, but I got lucky with amazing women somehow thru sheer dumb luck. The problem was, I had no idea how to form a real emotional bond. As soon as they got close, Iād panic, find stupid excuses like convincing myself they weren't attractive enough and run away before they could see the real "loser" I was and reject me first.
A few years ago, I met an amazing, kind, loving girl who genuinely cared about me. But I emotionally couldn't handle it. I broke her heart, and it still haunts me to this day. Months later, she even tried to stay friends with me because she valued our bond and saw the good in me, but I still managed to push her away with my actions (which i heavily regret rn). I want her even as a friend but i dont deserve a good soul like her. After her, I went into a reckless hoe phase to fill the void, chasing women and sleeping around, completely neglecting my studies and career. I treated women well on the surface - doing their groceries, fixing their appliances, listening to their trauma, being very supportive of them in everything but froze when it was my turn to connect emotionally. I would neber truly open up because I felt ashamed of who I was.
Eventually, karma hit me. It was as if the universe had ways of balancing itself. I fell madly in love with a woman who turned out to have childhood trauma like mine but more severe. Suddenly, I became what my past partners were to me, and she became what I was to them. Suddenly i was needy, desperate and clingy. My abandonment wound surfaced heavily. I would run to her at the drop of a hat, do everything for her and then some more, completely neglecting my needs and my self respect. I would voice when my needs werent met but when she never followed thru on it, i still stuck around just to settle for breadcrumbs like a pathetic loser. When I couldn't get the emotional closeness I craved, I panicked, spiraled into sleepless nights and severe depression, and ended up cheating on her and lying about it to fill the void i couldnt fill with her because I was terrified of abandonment and couldn't let go. She eventually found out and dumped me.
Now, after taking some time to recover, Iāve met another kind, supportive woman, but I'm terrified because I feel those same deeply rooted toxic patterns starting up again. On top of that, my dad is pressuring me to get married, using his 40+ years of severe depression, suicidal ideations, and declining health as a ticking clock to fulfill his duty as a father. But Iām making minimum wage, barely surviving solo, and feeling light-years behind in the career I once dreamed of because I lacked discipline and graduated with a terrible GPA. I feel like a total loser, carrying the heavy weight of all my regrets, and I desperately want to figure out how to stop these patterns, afford therapy, turn my life around, and atone for everything I've done to myself and to others. I know deep down I care about others but I run come time to bond on a deeper emotional intimacy while act like a stage 5 clinger when meeting someone who is a more severe version of me to me. I have no hopes anymore but im desperately looking to change and make something of my life. Ive hurt others a lot and after some recent reflections and heavy realizations, ive reached out and apologized to some but it's too late now.
Any advice is helpful. Ive never said this and feel pathetic for saying it as a grown man but to any men reading this, if you have any advice as a father to give to his son in this situation, what would you advise?