Although taking criticism personally and negatively is simply a part of human nature, the reality is that it actually exists as a way to be informed of the things we can and must improve about ourselves.
If we have a professor, coach, boss or friend telling us what to do and who to do it with, odds are we probably don’t like hearing it. This is why our family members make the best kind of critics in our lives; it's harder to hate someone with whom we share the same DNA.
Not only does our family know what’s best for us, but they also know us better than we know ourselves. While their criticism may be the cause of every annoyance or argument, in the grand scheme of things their suggestions will benefit us the most and help us to positively shape our futures.
Family on Education
Your parents are going to push you, and they’ll probably compare you to your older siblings along the way, but they’re doing it for your own benefit.
Take their pushiness as motivation, and take their comparison as a way to look up to your siblings as role models and eventually exceed your parents’ expectations.
This will start as early as the days of recreational sports, and probably will never end as long they're around. Accepting your parents’ intended words of wisdom gets you one step closer to being your best self; let them know that it is because of them.
Family on Social Life
Growing up, everyone has a friend or neighbor of who the family is not completely fond. Yours have had years to give this friend a second or maybe even a third chance, yet opinion remains the same. Whether it be a rudeness or love for rebellion, it is not something any parent would condone.
In this situation, confide in the familial critics within your generation, your siblings and cousins. These are the ones who share similar interests and upbringings, so trust their insight. If your circle of friends does not mesh well with your family, chances are these are friendships that weren’t meant to last.
Family on Relationships
Being part of a family can make a significant other feel like he or she is dating you and every person to whom you are related. Your family wants you to be with someone that lifts you higher and makes you your best self.
They want you to be with someone who supports you and makes you feel special. They want you to find someone who can bond with the family during visits or on holidays. If you cannot leave this person alone with your family, then he or she probably isn’t for you. Just sayin’. Your family will know if this person is for you the second you bring him or her home for a holiday or weekend visit, and will let it be known by smothering this person with love, affection, and obvious signs of acceptance.
Family on Style
If you haven’t experienced an urge to rebel, then it has yet to come. Everyone has a desire to get a funky haircut, try out highlights, get a matching tattoo with a BFF, or poke an extra hole or two in his or her ear.
While your college roommates will give you the utmost support, we often forget to think about how our family will view decisions like these. Although you're not going to agree with your family on everything, appearance is something that says much about yourself and them.
This is the way you carry yourself and also reflects how you feel about yourself. If a decision will lead to endless hours of explaining to your elderly grandparents why your jeans have so many holes in them, what the ink on your bicep means or why you felt it necessary to have a ring in your nose, chances are it was not the move.
Your family will almost always accept you for you, so on the rare occasion they don’t, I wouldn’t take their word for it.
Family on Success
Your family will define success differently than anyone else you come across in your life. When bantering about job and internship opportunities over dinner, your family wants to see your eyes light up with excitement, not your voice overtaken by boredom and stress.
While money is something our generation is always chasing, it is our family that will remind us that dreams are what we should be chasing. It's easy to think they won’t be accepting of an idea to take a year off and travel or work for a new non-profit organization, but chances are they will listen and love what you have to say.
Family on You
Our families want to see us experience all these things. They want us to be happy and involved in college, not miserable and struggling. They want us to be surrounded by amazing people, people who will be our groomsmen and maids of honor in our weddings, not problem causers.
They want us to experience love with the right person at the right time and to shape the right future with him or her. They want us to be confident in who we are, and share our natural beauty and features with the rest of the world.
They want us to be successful and happy. They want us to be ourselves.
So, next time you are unsure of a decision regarding any of these topics, run it by your family members and take their words to heart; they are your biggest fans, I can promise you that.
