The Guardian - Life & Style • Feb. 5, 2026, 9:30 a.m.

Many people are now opting for minimal contact with their parents and other relatives. But while this can provide time to think, it is fraught with emotional complexities When her mum called her, stress would ring through Marie’s body like an alarm going off.

So “I stopped answering the phone,” she says. She forms the words purposefully, as if reading from a script.

This was one of the “boundaries” she discussed carefully with her therapist three years ago when she reached a point of crisis in managing her maternal relationship. She has never explained her decision to her mother, but it followed a lifetime of what Marie, who is in her 40s, feels has been rejection, shaming and feeling like the “black sheep of the family”.

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