> I can't understand the general hostility toward getting (financial) help from your parents or living with them until you are financially independent, even after 18/25/30.

Personally, I never had that support structure and had to figure out my shit the hard way; that doesn't mean I was never helped by people, it simply means that I had to work harder to get help. This means that I find it mildly annoying when those hoops are skipped easily by people who can run to mommy and daddy when things go bad.

> I know I am biased as an italian

There is a cultural element to it. I am of Indian origin; those people are big on the family support structure thing. I think it gets way too codependent. On the other hand, America has both kinds: There are enough people who run to daddy to handle their credit card bills. There also is this Randian image of a hero who arises magically from the dust and conquers everything.

My issue is with the title more than anything. Sacrificed everything? This guy has traveled the world, was able to dump truckloads of money into 2 rounds of post-graduate study, and was finally able to throw it all away and live in his parents' house in the name of changing his career path.

Sacrifice is about hardship, tough decisions, and tangible loss, not about your parents shaking their heads and wagging their fingers at you. I'd argue that this guy's parents sacrificed more than he ever did just to give him the privilege of saying that he "sacrificed everything".

To me, I think of it as this: it's great that the author was able to get help like this. What about people who have poor parents? Or worse, abusive parents or no parents at all? I know, "life is unfair," but what if we, as a society, can do better?

OK, I tend to make resentful comments about kids with trust funds or who still live at home, but honestly, they would be fools to not tap into the resources available to them.