The Family Under Stress

Stress can be a very hard thing to deal with and many do not know healthy ways to deal with it. Many feel that just because they are your family that you are allowed to let all of your stress out on your family because they are your family and that is what they are there for. Yes your family will be there for you and that is what they are there for. Family should be there for you and listen to you and give healthy advice back but that is not how that works a lot of the time sadly. Many of us will blow up on our families when we are stressed and put all of our troubles on them. That is not healthy. Now your whole family feels the burdens and may think that you are mad at them. But that is not right. Family is there to push you up and be a great ear to listen. But family will not be there all the time if you stress them and put all of your problems on them and are always negative. We have to learn healthy ways to deal with stress. I believe that if you are stressed you should take a few hours to relax and meditate before you share it with others or try to fix whatever you are stressed about. Relax for a little bit and collect your thoughts and then come out and share how you feel and what that person thinks you should do. For mormon culture we talk a lot about marriage and how to be with your spouse through difficult and stressful times. It can really strengthen a relationship. Growing up I always thought that marriage got easy  as you went on and that there were not problems. Maybe I felt this way because I never saw my parents argue. But as I have grown up I have realized that that is not the case. Marriage is hard and will not be easy. But a huge part of making marriage work is communication. If you are stressed and don't tell anyone about it or your spouse then nothing will change and you will become frustrated and your marriage could go downhill. In class we were talking about times when stress has brought a family together and many shared very nice stories about times that many of their families were in a stressful time in their life but they worked as a family or they realized the true way to happiness which is family and just learned that even if you seem to have a perfect life or have so much money, that you can still experience stress and family problems. No one is perfect. We all have our own issues and experience stress but the way that we handle it is the way that can really show who we are. Do you have any family stories where you guys experienced stress but came out better in the end?

XOXO
-Claire