Better Relationships

My family of origin was insanely dysfunctional.  My parents stated again and again that what mattered in life was how (materially/financially) successful  you were.  After watching that philosophy fail miserable with the suicide of 2 of my 3 siblings when I was 15, I rebelled hard against that belief for the rest of my life.  Unfortunately I chose the philosophy of better living through chemistry.  That also failed miserably.

In the last year, at the age of 56, I finally realized that my best strategy is making relationships with god and others the most important thing in my life.  Even then, I had to read it in a book on positive psychology to realize what might be obvious to most healthy kindergarteners.   Better late than never.

Having spent a life avoiding healthy relationship with a naturally introverted personality, I will never be a famous role model for great relationships.  That is okay.  Simply doing my reasonable best to be in healthy relationships with others will be a great deal of progress.

Met with my psychologist today.  Her end-of-session homework assignment to me was to focus on improving relationships.  I will work on that for the rest of my life.

I am grateful for the good friends I have now and for a good support system to help me live a better life.