Jul 22 2008
Complicated
You ever have problems getting your family or friends to understand your life is different now that you have a family? Are you the reliable member of the family? The one that everyone counts on to do the right thing?
Being a reliable person is a place of great responsibility, people will expect things of you that they wouldn’t necessarily expect out of others.
They’ll call you when they have problems, sometimes big and most of the time small and expect you to help, drop everything you’re doing and come help. Family and friends are used to calling on you and you being able to help them, but then when your family situation changes and your priorities change, this can cause big problems for those who are used to calling when they need you.
One of the hardest things to do with family and friends is placing boundaries that weren’t there before. Letting them know that your priorities have changed and your spouse and children come first, before them. If anything friends are harder to explain this to. My best friend is still single and in school part time and partying on the weekends, meanwhile I go home every night and am in bed by 10:30 to be ready for work the next day.
While inside I’d like to be that hard partying girl that I used to be, I love my life now and the peace of it. The comfort of having someone to come home to is nice, so the sleepovers don’t happen anymore, the last minute trips to Galveston or Padre, not so much but thankfully she’s understanding.
I still hang out with her, but between her busy social, work and school life, and my life, we don’t see each other so much anymore. Our relationship has changed, but we’re not any less friends because of it. We certainly talk on the phone a lot more now than we used to.
Did your family and friends naturally understand your priorities changed as your family situation did, or did you have a few hold outs you had to push along?
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