Rest and Rejuvenation Day 28: On Relationships*

*This is not meant to imply romantic relationships.

When I was thinking about what aspect of my life I hadn’t talked about yet, I came to realize that I had yet to talk about the relationships in my life. Not any romantic relationships but those with my family, friends, and co-workers were the ones I wanted to work on. So, let’s talk about that. 

I’ve always had a complicated relationship with my parents but as I’ve gotten older, the more we’ve mellowed out. While it’s not perfect, and it never will be, I am willing to continue to work on them. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve come to understand myself. I know what is or isn’t important to me now and I know how I want to go about reaching them. I have worked on the issues I’ve had with my parents, and I’ve come to understand the relationship I want with them. 

Along the same lines, I’ve definitely gotten closer to my siblings. My brother, though much younger, is in his 20s now and my older sister in her 30s–yes, I am the middle child–so we’re full on adults now. This, in my opinion, changes how we interact with each other on certain situations. I definitely want to get to know both of them better as adults and that’s something I want to work on throughout this year.  

I have always struggled with the friends thing. I tend to over think and get very anxious when it comes to my relationships with my friends. Communication for that reason ends up being very hard. Every time I want to reach out to someone, I feel like I am inconveniencing them and don’t send the message. Whenever it comes my friendships this year and the relationships I cultivate with them, I want to make sure that it’s done well. 

In 2021, I want to focus on creating stronger bonds with people and solidify the friendships I have currently. I’ve always wanted to keep a small, close group of friends so this is just what I want. I simply want to make them stronger and last longer. 

I am hoping to get a full time job of some variety this year so that’s where this comes in. Since graduating in 2017, I haven’t had a job for more than one year in one place. While I was able to create strong relationships but I haven’t had the same luck since. This is something I want to work on and get better with so this will also be a focus for this year. 

I think that having good relationships with co-workers makes working with them a better experience. Getting along with people that we work with can help make that environment better. 

Do any of you have relationships you want to work on this year?