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Some thoughts on family history and the value it holds.
Over the past weeks I’ve been slowly reading through Jordan Peterson’s 12 More Rules for Life and it’s got me thinking about a number of things (I’m currently about to start rule VII). I had considered writing some reflections on each rule but I think these first 6 rules have helped me to formulate a different idea that is uniquely applicable to each of us, especially if you have a challenging relationship with your parents.
Many of us have tough relationships with our parents. Sometimes more difficult with one or the other but sometimes both. A typical example is a father who is highly controlling or has a bad temper. His children will likely come to despise him and everything about him if they follow the natural human reaction, to reject what hurts us or is bad for us. However, this isn’t the most mature thing to do nor the most valuable.
You see, we often fail to realize that our parent’s faults and major character flaws are oftentimes a reaction to them doing exactly what we are thinking of doing — doing anything to avoid becoming like our parents. This blind sprint away from the perceived evil/danger could end up leading us to another extreme or sometimes even right back to what we despised.
This is something I struggled with a lot with my dad. He has some very bad habits and ways he treated us…
