Proper adult and only child wanting to move out but guilt creeps in
I'm Filipino (31) and been wanting to move out for years but have been shoving the idea because I could not leave my mom with my dad. It might sound bad but he's a pretty useless. When my mom gets sick he would not know so I have to take care of her, which I'm not complaining of course, but how useseless can he be? There's this one time she got choked and was rushed to the hospital and my dad did not even know why. He did not even ask when my mom got back home from the hospital. To make things worse, my father is abusive. He gets mad crazy when he rans out of money and would guilt trip us to give him money. He claims to be very religious and close to God but would be deceitful to his own family. He once stole money from me when I was a kid. I'm sick of it!
The constant drama and clashing at home made me feel like I'm responsible to fix things in the family even as a young kid. I pay 90% of the expenses, do houshold chores etc so I know I'm very capable to move out - I'm more than ready. But whenever I think of it, guilt instantly creeps in. What would happen to mom if I move out? How am I going to protect her? What if she needs immediate care and I'm not around? I know to myself that it's not my fault but I'm Filipino and there's an unspoken rule that we take care of our parents. Because of this, I often feel resentful to my mother because of her decision to stay with my father. I sometimes feel that she failed to protect me but now that I'm older I could not shake the feeling that I'm resposible to this dynamic I did not create.
I don't know what to do but I also want to be free. I wish I was born a westener. Moving out will also mean that I might have to pay for 2 household expenses and maybe I'm capable but that would be terrible to my finances.
Any advice would help. Tia!
Posted Feb 26, 2026, 7:53 AM UTC