Friday 6 September 2019

Keeping The Family Together When The Going Gets Tough

It would be illusory to suppose that family life is always going to be sunlight and rainbows. Although there are going to be plenty of good times, it’s just as true that you should expect some darker or more troublesome times. These are actually a necessary part of living, although that does not mean that you will find yourself willing them on to happen. But something that is going to prove necessary is developing some kind of a way to deal with those tough times, especially so that you can hope to keep your family together, and keep the relationships within that family as strong as possible. As it turns out, that might be simpler than you think, as long as you follow some basic precepts.


Image Source - CCO Licence
Suffer Together

Generally, when you are going through tough times, that means that there is some kind of suffering going on. That is obviously not the kind of position anyone wants or chooses to be in, but that doesn’t mean that there are no ways to deal with it. To the contrary, you will find that you are much more able to deal with such suffering than you might think, and the key to doing so is to stick together when times get tough. Whatever it is that might be going on for your family, from the banal everyday issues to the larger, life-changing problems, make a point of sticking together and even, yes, suffering together. That will ensure that you still feel like a unit, and that you are much more likely to see the experience through as one.

Get Outside Help

There will often be times when you need some kind of outside help to get you and your family through a tough situation, and it is absolutely okay to ask for that help. That help can come in many forms. It might be that you need some assistance with some kind of admin that is part of the situation. For instance, if the situation is that someone close to you all has passed away, you are going to need to find undertakers, funeral homes, and so on - and getting that done early will absolutely help you to stick together as a family unit. Or you might go so far as to say that you need group counselling, in which case don’t delay in getting it. It could be that some outside help is all you really need to turn things around.


Image Source - CCO Licence
Allow Some Personal Space

At the same time as trying to focus so much on being a unit, you will also find that it is beneficial to allow a good degree of personal space for everyone in your family. Having your own space can be very helpful, particularly if there are ongoing tensions within the family itself, as it gives you the space to think. If everyone has at least some of that, you will find that it can actually help you to all stick together as you would like to. So be sure to champion this as much as anything else.