How to deal with toxic family relationships | Johnson Chong | TEDxRolandPark

Is blood really thicker than water? Is being family enough to outweigh the toxicity of an unhealthy relationship? Over 1 in 4 American adults have experienced family estrangement, be it from one, or both parents, a sibling or a relative. The main causes are emotional abuse, personality and value clashes, mismatched expectations and possible physical/sexual trauma. Johnson Chong poses the idea that toxic family relationships are similar to unspoken one-sided contracts that are full of expectations and obligations that keep us from unapologetically living the life we deserve to live. He asks the question, “if we can negotiate legal contracts, then why not toxic family ones?“ As a gay man, he feared disappointing his traditional Chinese parents who were freedom swimmers, a movement of asylum seekers who risked their lives swimming across the Southern Sea from China to Hong Kong to escape Communist rule in the mid-20th century. Johnson has had to break free from the traditional pressures of what