Where does family fit in? (DW#388)
Strictly speaking, family relationships belong in the emotional domain of our life along with our other close relationships. This means that if any of our major relationships are conflicted, we will likely give ourselves a low score in that domain, implying that there is much room for growth in this area.
Family relationships however, are in a somewhat special category because our satisfaction with (or lack of satisfaction with) family life impacts all the other domains: there is loads of research on how a happy or unhappy marriage for example, impacts physical and mental health. So if our close relationships are causing us distress, that is likely to show up as a low score on our mental wellbeing and physical health due to stress.
Spiritual domain: There are some studies which suggest that couples who share religious practices tend to be happier than those who don't, implying that marriage impacts at least the practice of religion, if not spiritual connection.
Social domain: the social domain is where your friendships and less-intimate relationships live. This too is impacted by the quality of your family relationships: if we are stressed at home, we are often drained of the emotional energy that it takes to nurture and maintain our social relationships.
What does all of this mean for personal growth?
When we are working on ourselves to live the best version of ourselves, it will benefit those closest to us. If we are working on managing our temper, our defensiveness, our stubbornness or the desire to always be right, the ones who are closest to us will benefit from our increased self awareness and emotional regulation.
When our relationships improve, they will impact other areas of our lives by giving us greater emotional and psychical energy and motivation to work on other aspects of our lives.
Of course, great stress in other domains can also impact our family relationships. If we are going through mental health challenges such as depression or challenges to our physical health, it can put great stress on our close relationships, especially if we do not have skillful ways to talk about or navigate such challenges.
Can you see how all the domains are inter-related and impact each other even though we might talk about them separately?
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