Communication

 Communication in a family is probably the most important thing in keeping your family a functional one. Last week I had written about the Family under Stress. When related to communication, this can help alleviate stress and problems significantly. 

    In class today, we briefly talked about the difference between complaining and communicating. Simply put, my Professor said that Complaining is an adult's way of crying. Complaining won't get us anywhere. It only makes people annoyed, hostile, and distant from us. If something is bothering you, whether it be something your partner is doing, or even just something that happened in your day that wasn't pleasant, talk maturely about it instead of whining and complaining. People are more willing and more likely to listen and change if you have a real conversation with them. For example, say you don't like the way that your partner spends so much time sleeping in on the weekends. There are two ways you could address this issue. You could bring this up maturely and have a conversation about this, or you could complain about this and possibly anger or annoy them. You have to be willing to humble yourself and be respectful when communicating with others. 

    Other bad ways of communicating are the use of sarcasm, and correcting someone's behavior or actions in front of other people. When you use sarcasm, it's condescending, and people don't typically take well to that. People don't like to feel inferior to others, and it creates tension. Now when you correct somebody in front of other people, it makes them feel bad. It's embarrassing when people's flaws are pointed out in front of others. Think about how you would feel in a situation when someone tells you in front of your peers that what you're doing is wrong and you should do it the way they think is fit. Once again, it makes you feel inferior to that individual, and they're putting you down in front of other people. If you can help it, try and separate them from the crowd and have a conversation about whatever it is you wanted to talk to them about. 

When you finally do figure out a way to respectfully have a conversation with the person of interest, make sure to stay on topic. If you stray off and address other things, it will only make things worse. Remember, you don't need a winner and a loser in this situation. Compromise is key to you both getting the desired result of your conversation while keeping you both feeling good at the end of it. 

Overall, mature and real conversations are so important. Communication is key to keeping a relationship thriving. You can't ever be close to someone if you aren't able to communicate with them. In finding the right way to communicate with others, that's how you can develop and maintain healthy relationships.