Family gatherings can create stress for many people for various reasons. Our family knows all of our buttons and we have had ingrained patterns of behaviors or dances that we do with our close family members.
How many of us leave family gatherings with parents and/or siblings saying something like: “I don’t know why I feel just like I did as a kid when I am with my family! I’m not a kid any more but we do the same dances we did back then!” It is so easy to have our “buttons” pushed when we are around people who know us so well…. they know all of our vulnerabilities and seem to target them when stress or tempers flare… often with the “best intentions”, wittingly or unwittingly. Continue Reading
