The Importance of Family in Our Life: Why you Should go Home for the Holidays
The Importance of Family in Our Life: Why you Should go Home for the Holidays. Spending quality time during the holiday season.
The holidays are right around the corner. For many people, last year’s holiday season looked different with the pandemic. Many were unable to see their families, and celebrated the festivities over zoom or facetime.
With things looking brighter this year, many are planning to get together again this holiday season.
We understand sometimes seeing your family during the holidays can be stressful. But, the holidays also prove to be a great time to bond, and build stronger relationships. The holidays may be especially difficult for those who lost a loved one. But, oftentimes being surrounded by people who love and care for you can help make those times easier to get through.
If you’re someone who is stressed about seeing your family for the holidays, here are some things to remember to make the experience more enjoyable:
The Importance of Family in Our Life
If you’re someone who lost a loved one, the holidays can be an extremely difficult time. But, if this experience teaches you anything—it’s that time is precious. Tomorrow is never guaranteed.
One day, when you look back on your life you will want to remember the fun times you had with your family. And oftentimes the holidays are one of the rare moments where the entire family gets together.
There are also scientific studies that prove the importance of family time in our life. A Swedish study was conducted, and revealed individuals over the age of 75 who had strong connections with their family, were at a reduced risk for dementia. Not only this, but another study conducted on 309,000 people, revealed weak social relationships increased someone’s risk of premature death from all causes by 50%.
These startling statistics show us how important it is to be there for our loved ones. By spending time with your family, you can contribute to their overall health and wellbeing.
Family Time Helps Reduce Stress
It’s very easy to cope with stressful situations in an unhealthy way. If you don’t have a strong support system in place, you’re more likely to find it hard to confide in people. At the end of the day, we’re all human and we need support.
If you have strong relationships with your friends and family, you’re more likely to confide in them when you’re stressed. This helps prevent you from turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as drugs and alcohol.
Confiding in your family also helps you talk through your problems with a trusted party, and reduce overall stress while finding effective solutions.
Annals of Behavioral Medicine performed a study where they found that when people shared their hardships with their friend right beside them, they had a lower pulse and blood pressure reading. This goes to show that when you have people alongside you in your life, you help reduce your overall stress. Relationships with friends and family quite literally prove to be good for your health.
The Importance of Family for Child Development
Whether you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt, or uncle—chances are you have children in your family. The importance of family time in our life is arguably the most important for children. Family time plays a key role in child development.
Children who get the chance to spend more time with their family, often show reduced rates of violence and substance abuse. The people surrounding a child largely influence their behavior patterns.
If a child feels comfortable around family, they’re more likely to confide in them with their problems. Feeling safe enough to bring up their problems, helps children make positive decisions and strengthens their skills to cope with problems.
Family Strengthens your Physical Health
Depending on your family, spending time with them could help promote healthy habits. For example, if you eat out a lot on a regular basis—spending time with family could mean regularly eating healthy, home-cooked meals.
Also, if you and your family enjoy participating in sports, gardening, or other activities that promote physical well-being—you’re encouraging yourself to stay active when with them.
Teaches Effective Conflict Resolution
We understand that among families, conflict will arise. But, walking away and avoiding dealing with this conflict, isn’t doing anyone any good. By spending time with your family, you’re learning to work through your problems.
This will help teach you healthy conflict resolution, and promote your adaptability and resilience. If you learn how to deal with conflicts with people closest to you—this skill will help you in many different areas of your life.
Quality Bonding Time
When everyone lives busy lives, spending time bonding often goes overlooked. Oftentimes, spending time with your family during the holidays is the most quality time you get all year. We all get so busy in our day-to-day lives, it’s easy to go long periods of time without seeing those we care for most.
This time spent together should not be overlooked! This bonding time gives you a chance to learn about any changes in your loved ones—especially elderly family members who may require more care. It also gives you a good opportunity to learn new and exciting things about each other, and create beautiful memories that will last a lifetime.
At the end of the day, home is where your heart is. And oftentimes that’s with your family.
Promotes a Sense of Belonging
At the end of the day, we all want to feel like we belong. Gaining a sense of community is a crucial part to the human experience. By spending time with your family this holiday season, you’re heightening your sense of community and belonging.
Whether we admit it or not, family is a pivotal part of our lives. The good, the bad, the ugly—family is there through it all. Oftentimes, spending time bonding will help remind you why you love them so much in the first place!
Overall, the importance of family in our life is crucial. It’s also important to remember, family doesn’t always have to be blood relatives. Friends are our chosen family. So whatever family means to you—be sure to show them just how important they are to your life this holiday season.
Here at Connect2Heal, we know the holidays can be overwhelming.
Take a moment to talk to one of our licensed therapists to learn how to move past the stressful situations, and learn how to make the most of your time with your family this holiday season.
