Improving Family Relationships
In your adolescence you will face many changes and
challenges, your hormones change and you will suffer from an incurable case of
teenage angst. The world will seem like a dark and dreadful place to the lonely
teenager, which is why building a stronger bond with family members and getting
on with them more successfully will help you get through it.
It might sound profound, but your parents too were once
teenagers and have gone through something quite similar to you. It might not be
easy to open up on your feelings, you might not think anyone will understand,
but communication is better than keeping it all bottled up. Speak to your
parents, try to connect with them on a more emotional level, they have already
gone through this stage and have come out alive on the other side, they might
just reveal the key to dealing with it.
Your home should be a sanctuary, a place where the outside
world can’t get to you, a place where you can be comfortable in your own skin.
Do not isolate yourself from those who love you and care about you, don’t lock yourself
away in those dark corners of your mind. Instead try to become more actively
involved in family activities, participate in family game night, eat dinner
with your family, be in the presence of those who love you, it’s bad enough to
feel alone in the world, you don’t need to feel alone at home as well.
Instead of thinking about what others can do for you, think
more about what you can do for others. Some of the greatest pleasure you will
experience is when you help others, whether it is big or small it doesn’t
matter. If you cannot find joy by helping, try finding it by helping those who
help you. If you see your mother struggling to make dinner and do washing and
clean the house, help her. If your siblings need help with their homework, help
them.
If perchance you are feeling down and out, without a hope in
the world, do not take your anger out upon your family members; rather focus
your energy on something else. If you feel like shouting at your mother, do the
opposite, find a quiet place to sit and think, meditation can go a long way on
the road to self-discovery. Think about all the things you want in life, all
the things that make you happy, focus on them and without even realising, your
anger would have dispersed. Once you have settled down, explain your feelings
in a calm manner and together find a solution to the problem. Rather than
raising your voice, improve your argument.
My final advice would be; to not dwell on things for too
long, do not spend hours thinking about the things you can’t change, it will
eat at your very soul. Instead practise on working on the things you can change
and can fix, like the relationship with your family members, how you treat them
and the way you act towards them.
Being a teenager is hard, but having more people that love
you unconditionally, like your family, can make it a little bit easier. It will
not be easy, but you need to work at it.
