06. “You’re lucky I even put up with you.”
This phrase sounds dramatic, but it’s really just emotional blackmail dressed as tough love. Instead of making you feel loved, it makes you feel like a burden—like your existence is something to be tolerated, not cherished. That kind of message sticks, even years later. You might start to feel unworthy of affection, thinking you have to “earn” love by staying quiet or doing everything right. It creates a toxic belief that love is conditional. And for a parent to say this? That’s not love—it’s control.