A strained family relationship can be difficult enough to bear as it is, especially with all the negativity and stress it often entails. But some people manage to make it even worse for those involved by doing something as absurd as starting a ridiculous rumor.
That’s what this redditor’s aunt did when she said that the OP—her niece—had a crush on her. But instead of taking such accusations to heart, the netizen decided to retaliate by using malicious compliance.
Some family relationships never seem to take a turn for the better
Image credits: djile (not the actual photo)
This redditor’s relationship with her aunt got even worse after the latter started a ridiculous rumor about her niece
Image credits: LightFieldStudios (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
Image credits: spinaticc
Family relationships can significantly influence both one’s mental and physical well-being
The OP seemingly has a good relationship with family members that are close to her, including her sisters, her mother and her grandmother, but the rest of her kin was referred to as a “chaotic dumpster fire for a family”, likely for a reason.
Be it good or bad, family relationships can significantly affect a person of any age, but their influence is arguably paramount during the individual’s formative years and their youth. Research suggests that a safe and supportive family environment tends to provide the offspring with the emotional security and social integration that is essential for their healthy development. Such relationships also have a great deal to do with the child’s opportunities to lead a healthy life.
According to said research, unsupportive and neglectful family relationships, on the other hand, foster an environment that may lead to worsened mental and physical health across the lifespan. That is due to the stress, emotion processing, social competence, and risky health behaviors of such detrimental relationships, which are reportedly linked with the odds of developing chronic pain.
Unfortunately, even if not reaching such a detrimental point, family relationships seem to be headed downhill in countries all over the world. According to Pew Research Center, the majority of people globally believe that family ties have become weaker over the last two decades. This rings true in virtually every surveyed country, including the U.S., where such beliefs were expressed by 64% of respondents (for comparison, the median across 10 European countries stood at close to 60%.)
Image credits: Lisa Fotios (not the actual photo)
Sometimes fixing a relationship is impossible even with those of your kin
According to assistant professor of family and community medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Sarah Woods, family relationships tend to be long and emotionally intense, as members of one’s kin are the people they are connected to forever. “If you are sensitive to emotional stress, then being bathed in that stress would over time wear and tear on your body,” she told CNN, adding that sometimes such relationships can be worked on and improved, no matter the age of those involved.
However, in the comments under her post, the OP pointed out that when it came to her aunt, and the rumor specifically, there was “no helping it”, adding that it’s impossible to “make sense from nonsense”. That implies that trying to fix their relationship would likely be a lost cause, as sometimes, the effort of improving the relationship with someone in the family proves futile, which leaves the individual with no other choice but to cut it off.
According to licensed psychologist Sherrie Campbell, cutting ties with family is one of the hardest things an individual might have to do in life, but sometimes they have to do it for their own good. “The facts are that family members are just people and not always healthy people, and if these people weren’t family, we would never choose them to be a part of our lives due to their poor treatment of us,” she pointed out for ABC News.
But the OP had other plans. Instead of cutting ties with her aunt, she decided to engage in malicious compliance and went along with her rumor, seeking to make her feel uncomfortable. And according to some redditors who shared their thoughts in the comments, similar scenarios have seemingly worked for some people in the past.
Image credits: Felipe Cespedes (not the actual photo)
The OP shared more details in the comments
Fellow redditors offered their two cents on the matter, too
