HOW DO I DEAL WITH OVERPROTECTIVE PARENTS WHO ARE DRIVING ME INSANE?

I can relate. In many ways my parents raised me different than other Sikh families I know- I was always told that I’m equal to boys, i should be educated and financially dependent, don't care about what other people think, etc. But STILL they were very overprotective and had lots of expectations. I found this to be isolating because my friends, who were almost all non-sikh, didn’t understand why I wasn’t allowed to come over. (I can understand now that my mom was overprotective due to some things that happened to me when I was a little kid but I didn’t find that out until recently.) Still it doesn’t take away the fact that it was really hard being different than everyone else, not allowed to do what they were doing. Things changed for me because I ended up being on my own for two yrs. I developed a sense of independence and knew i could survive and do well on my own. When I moved back with my parents I had problems again and I had several conversations saying that I need my space, I need to be able to make my own decisions in my life, and that I love them but I also want to establish my own life. It was painful and very hard and lots of crying but I needed to do it because I needed them to understand. It solved a lot and they did give me the space and said that they would love me no matter what even if i didn't make the decisions that they wanted me to make because it was my choice to make them. That was hard, i've always looked upon them for approval and if they didn't agree i used to just give in to what they wanted for me because i figured they are older and know better and really i thought they wouldn't love and support me if I didnt do what they want. So talking about it really changed things but it was also my increased confidence in my independence. I made quite a few decisions that they didn't agree with but were the best for me and worked out great and i think that helped me gain some confidence in myself. I'm not totally "free" like some people are. My phone has a GPS app that the whole family uses to see where each other is, and i'm not supposed to be out too late because my parents literally always will stay up to make sure i got home and they don't want to be waiting up for hours just for me to me home. I get that there really are a lot of girls that go missing in my town and they are scared something is going to happen to me. They have seen me really hurt in the past and its hard for them to bear seeing ... (more)