Strength In Family

I believe in the strength of family. Whether it is immediate family, girl friends, guy friends, team members, or a community club, the power of these relationships is unmatched. Having a family that will give you support in good as well as rough times is important to an individual’s over all wellbeing and personal growth.

While still growing up, I depend a lot on my family’s perspectives and thoughts of me. Having two other siblings who are boys, one younger and one older, I have my share of both fun and disagreements with them. When I was growing up, my older brother was always worried about who I was hanging out with and what I was doing. My younger brother just wanted to tease me and always be in my space. Despite these annoyances, I still wanted both of them to approve what I was doing and be on my side. My mom is a listener, while my father is an enforcer. Both have always supported me in different was by providing input, guidance, and punishment using their own individual methods.

My older brother has showed me how to be head-strong and determined, I watched him enter boot camp the day after he graduated from high school and when entering boot camp he wanted to be the best marine he could be and succeed to his maximum potential. He has been thrown a lot of obstacles in his life. He had to deal with his family at home while being deployed overseas and with recovering from an injury received in Iraq. Despite these obstacles and setbacks, he still has his head-strong personality and the determination to be a police officer and adequately provide for his family.

My younger brother has showed me how to love life for what it is and the importance of a carefree approach to life with a carefree attitude in order to forget its daily pressures. He can push something someone says right off his shoulder as if it did not happen. He demonstrates that you do not have to conform to today’s social standards of having a college education to be happy and live a successful life.

My parents, through their wisdom and enforcement, continue to shape the person I am today and will become in the future. I know one day down the road I will understand their reasoning because I will look at their perspective when dealing with my own children. It will have a direct impact on how I influence their growth and development.

Although there is individual strength in each of us, we can also find situations that we wish we could have avoided. The strength of family allows you to learn not only by seeing the positives and strengths that other members of your family have, but also by learning from mistakes and the negative situations other members have experienced. I believe a family strengthens people’s individuality and provides a support system that promotes growth and learning. I have learned something from every single one of my immediate family members and truly value this knowledge. I realize it has allowed me to grow and develop into the person I am today. Having family strength allows a person to be part of a team where each person knows his or her role and has the ability to tackle an obstacle that comes his or her way through the support system provided by the family.