Hello all!! I would really appreciate some sound advice. I thank you in advance for listening and for your patience. You're all so kind. Some background here. My parents divorced about 5 years ago (I'm 25 years old). It was a bad divorce. My father has moved on with his life but my mom HATES my dad. This is hard because I talk to both every day to check up on them and my mom has moved away from the area so I call just to make sure she's okay and to chit chat. Both are very loving people but my mom has bottled up hate for him. 90% of the time I get along fine with my mom. However, lately I've been having issues. Mainly that I'm lonely (been a long time since I've had a girlfriend and I'm having issues with finding a different job). Naturally in the last few days I've opened up to my mom about my problems (I usually don't talk to her about deep things like this but I'm lonely and she's one of the few people I can turn to). However, when I talk to her about my issues, she ALWAYS takes the conversation back to how AWFUL my dad supposedly is (he's not awful, just human). For instance, I'll tell her how much I hate my current job and she'll say "Oh well your father thinks he has all the answers, why don't you ask him?" and I'll say "Mom, this has nothing to do with dad!" And then she'll just turn the conversation into how SHE's lonely. I listen to her problems with all my heart. She cannot listen to mine and it's tough because it's so lonely right now and she's being very cold hearted. I feel like I can't tell her anything. I could honestly say (just as an example), "Mom, I'm on the edge of a cliff right now, I'm gonna jump!" and she'll say "oh really well I'm lonely and do you know what it feels like to be me?" I love my mom with all my heart but it pains me that she cannot listen. I tell her this too. And even then she'll still find a way to bring the conversation back to my dad. So what do you guys think? Should I limit my talk with my mom and keep the relationship friendly but ultimately not tell her my issues? Should I seek counseling (I'm not depressed, just sad. I'm just very lonely. I know life is supposed to be tough but I feel like I have no one to turn to). Or is it one of those things that I should laugh at and just say, "Wow, parents can be very difficult!" Thanks for all your help. I'm very lonely. I turn to my religion in tough times but it's very nice to hear kind words coming from a human.