Circular arguments with parents and family- how to leap an impasse?

Hey all, I’ve been having a really tough past couple of weeks. Also fair warning, I know Reddit can be brutal, but please please try not to rip apart me or my family with hate comments. I’m (23F) and going to graduate school out of state and moving in with my boyfriend as well in mid August. I have lived at home for the majority of my life, only lived on campus with a few roommates that I was very close with for 2 out of my 5 years in undergrad. I’m feeling scared, anxious, excited, eager to start a new chapter, a mix of good and bad. But I feel like there’s been a big uptick of conflict between me and my family, especially my parents (mid to late 50s). We just never seem to see eye to eye about so many things. We even argue ABOUT arguing.

One of the most frustrating parts of all this is that I feel like I’m always the one apologizing afterwards because I feel guilty upsetting them. I still don’t agree that many of their perspectives are correct. I also have depression and anxiety, but see a therapist every other week and have a good meditation combination. But the arguments get so heated and intense sometimes that I almost reach the point of no return (SI in rare cases) but I do feel safe because I have a wonderful support system outside my family (two best friends, my therapist, my amazing boyfriend and his family, all whom I adore with everything I am.) They usually all agree with my perspective and not my family’s and they are brutally honest with me. But they also might be biased, they rarely interact with my family at all, they’re very private people.

How am I able to at least attempt to try and reconcile, agree to disagree, but whenever I try negotiating peace or a truce with them it usually just blows up in my face?? I love my family very dearly, and they also support me financially and in many other ways outside of our typical arguments. I hate that it’s always me vs them. I would feel completely terrible cutting them off completely when I move soon (it’s about 1.5-2hrs drive away from my current location, and they know where I’m moving as well). I want some kind of middle ground where I can set boundaries where either parties don’t get upset by them (and believe me, they even get upset when I’ve tried setting some in the past). But I don’t even know where to begin. Thoughts?

TLDR- family never ending conflict, how do I set boundaries without offending too harshly?

Posted Jun 12, 2026, 11:53 PM UTC

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