We all know that life isn't slowing down for anyone. As it speeds up, we find ourselves getting busier and the days flying by faster. There are so many tasks and activities we pressure ourselves to pack into the 9-to-5 work week that sometimes it's hard to realize that everyone that has always been around you, has started to drift, and are growing up as well. The weight of the years can go under the radar, until we're hit in the face by the big milestones and we're forced to reckon with the mysterious tick of time. Where does it go?
Generation Y and Millennials, we are getting older! As our generation busts down the door to newfound adulthood, or, as they call it the real world; we are landing our first jobs out of college, moving out onto our own, and embarking on the next chapter. Let's face it, in the midst of all of this craziness, it can be hard to navigate interpersonal relationships. Especially when distance gets in the way.
Getting up on your own two feet isn't always easy. Once you're standing on solid ground, you'll look around you and see who is still around and who is more distant than you'd like. With bills to pay and promotions to chase, we don't always keep the importance of family at the forefront of our priorities until too much time has past.
With a variety of recent health problems on different branches of my extended and immediate family, I've found myself in an underwhelming panic. When was the last time we saw each other? Have I really let five years pass? These questions make me realize I'm not young anymore; I'm old enough to take the initiative of seeing them. No one can make excuses for me! I've passed the transitory period where I can no longer consider myself a child, I can't rely on my mom to make the family plans and keep us all together anymore. As much as I'd like to, it's unrealistic. The decision to be with family or not falls completely into my own hands now, and with that is a large responsibility I want to handle.
These relationships with family are strangely enough what mold us into who we are and how we interact with people outside of our kin. If you want to see a change in your interpersonal relationships, it's important to primarily take a gaze within your family life and acknowledge the weak bonds that need strengthening. Attending to those bonds goes a long way.
Life's short and always better spent around people who love you. We all know this, now let's see some action. The sooner you can understand this, the more time you get with the people that will always support you. Break away from your routine and go pay a visit to someone you love who you don't see that often. Even if it's a short lunch and the relationship isn't what it could be, making this a prerogative takes you two one step in the right direction, until soon enough, it becomes routine.
Now, go show some love to that family member who is on your mind ;)
