A relationship that will last forever...

According to Mersky Leder Sibling rivalry often remains past childhood and adolescence and into adulthood. She comments that

"While few adult siblings have severed their ties completely, approximately one-third of them describe their relationship as rivalrous or distant. They don't get along with their sibling or have little in common, spend limited time together, and use words like "competitive," "humiliating," and "hurtful" to depict their childhoods. The speed with which old conflicts reduce these adults to children again prevents them from seeing one another in a new or different light. They push each other's buttons without knowing why or how and recast themselves in childhood roles that never worked in the first place."

I was sitting at lunch today with my sister and my father and I commented that I didn't know what I was going to write for a blog and my sister immediately jumped in and said

"Me!! Write about me!"

Now of course, she meant it as a joke and began to laugh but it did get me thinking about the state of a relationship with your siblings. I am currently in Thailand visiting my family and I've got to say that when I was living here, I took it for granted. The beautiful beaches, friendly people, loving environment... it really is paradise. So now when I get the oppertunity to travel back to Thailand, I jump... HIGH! Since moving out and starting my independant life, I've noticed how I've become a lot closer to my family and specifically my sister. So when I read the article that the has been extracted above, it made me think.

Above: My sister, Sydney (Far Left), Myself and my best friend Karina on a night out in Patong, Thailand.

My sister is honestly my best friend in the whole world. I don't quite know what I do with out her around. We talk incessantly on the phone, usually about the most mundane and trivial matters and yet we can't stop. We'll talk about the people we know, or the the problems we're having and usually it helps and makes us feel better. It was Alfred Adlerwho once commented that he viewed siblings as

"striving for significance" within the family and felt that birth order was an important aspect of personality development.

But that isn't true of all cases, it certainly isn't in regards to my own relationship with my sister. When we were younger, sure, there was a certain tension that laid mostly dormant between us, a rivalry that we fought for the same treatment and love from our parents (even though we were already getting that). And yes, true, we'd fight and bicker, but then again who doesn't? But since we've both become more mature and honest with each other, there is a new bond between of us of trust and loyalty and when I talk with several of my other friends who have siblings with around the same age difference as we do (three years), they too, tend to say the same thing.

Returning home, if only for a short while, has once again opened my eyes to how lucky I am to have such a wonderful relationship with my sister and my parents. Granted it hasn't always been as easy as it is now but hey we got there right? I feel truly blessed that I've realised at a young age how important family is to an individual and I cherish each moment that I spend with any of them, especially my sister. There is no rivalry that lies between us. Only an unbreakable bond that will last always and forever.

(*Sappy I know!!;)


*~A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Guys!!~*