In Sheila’s article regarding parents, she speaks on her difficulties of reestablishing her relationship with her father after many years of not seeing him. She speak of the relationship being part of her daily life as it follows one into matrimony and one’s life is often heavily influenced by them whether or not you actively are speaking to them. She also speaks about the effects that her parents’ divorce had on her and how she ultimately made it take a toll on her relationship with her father.
Key Takeaways:
- For better or for worse, your dad is always there, as I have learned with my own rocky relationship with my father. Though he’s not in my life much now, his influence was very present at the beginning of our marriage, and took quite a while to work through.
- don’t want bitterness and anguish to blight my future, so I now make a conscious effort in all relationships to forgive and move on. Clinging on to old resentments achieves nothing; it simply sucks the joy out of life for you and those around you.
- Forgiving my dad was difficult; forgiveness is always difficult. It means putting compassion (and common sense!) above pride.
“I don’t want bitterness and anguish to blight my future, so I now make a conscious effort in all relationships to forgive and move on. Clinging on to old resentments achieves nothing; it simply sucks the joy out of life for you and those around you.”