How to deal with the moving out process emotionally?

(Advice/Help)

Hi, I installed reddit just to make this post. This might be a little long so please bear with me.

I (21F) was raised in a conservative Pakistani Muslim household in Saudi Arabia. Right from my childhood, I could notice the difference in how my parents treated my brothers vs how they treated my sister and I. For example, they sent me brothers to study abroad but they wouldn't let my sister study go to our home country. I've spent my entire life being emotionally abused and neglected because I have a big age gap with my siblings and by the time my parents had me, they were in their 40s and done w parenting. My sister raised me and she was married off when i was in the 3rd grade. After that, it was all shit. My parents didn't pay attention to me. They didn't like anything I did. They were v short tempered. I turned to religion to escape. I used to pray to god to heal me and take my pain away but nothing in my life changed so I started resenting him and eventually stopped believing.

There's a reason I mentioned all of these things because my life changed when I moved to a western country 5 years ago. I saw a chance to escape from this life. I thought my parents would loosen up a little bit but it didn't happen. I can't go anywhere apart from school and work. I have to ask them permission to hangout w friends and they're mad when i do that. They get mad when i go do fun things like going to a concert or going to a ballet show or going on a hike w my brother aka their own son.

I'm graduating soon and I have found a place for myself, half an hour away from them. I have spent my whole life just pleasing them because I'm terrified of their anger. Our relationship has improved since we moved here because i'm barely home and always working but also because I simply comply with everything they ask me to do. Now, I'm in a conundrum on how to tell them I'm moving out. Telling them before I do it seems too scary and risk but telling them afterwards feels too cruel. I'm sitting with them pretending that nothing is going to happen and everything is fine. But, I also know that they will never accept me for who I am. The fact that I don't believe in religion and I have tattoos alone is enough for them to be insanely angry at me. I don't know I'm looking to vent or seeking advice. I'm open to anything you can offer me. If anybody has gone through something similar, please share your experience. Thanks!

Posted May 1, 2026, 3:41 AM UTC

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