Maintaining a good relationship is core to keeping the bond amongst yourselves if you are living in isolation with your loved ones. Whether you live in a large home with an arched front door and a pool or live in a small apartment on the tenth floor, it may be challenging to keep interacting with your family or friends each day and still maintain your friendship. It would call for self-discipline for each of you to maintain your strong bond throughout the isolation period, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
You need to learn to become a better person and treat your family with love. Being in isolation with them should give you an opportunity to learn more from each other and even strengthen your bonds. How do you then keep yourself a good person and maintain a good relationship with your loved ones during this period?
1. Learn to forgive and avoid anger
We are all fond of mistakes and we tend to wrong each other from time to time. Holding grudges with your loved ones will ruin your relationships and make your life quite difficult during the isolation period. Learn to forgive others and let go of the anger. This will give you a chance to quickly heal avoiding stress, depression, and anxiety, among other conditions. Holding onto anger may bring conflicts in the family and this may also contribute to some health complications such as heart diseases. Releasing anger and having positive thoughts about your loved ones, even when they have hurt you, keeps your family close while maintaining your stronger bonds.
2. Admit mistakes and learn to apologize
No one is perfect since we all wrong other people from time to time. If you have wronged other people, it is always important to admit your mistakes and apologize. Defending your mistakes and keeping your ego will only ruin your relationships with them. Learn to let it go and apologize for what you have done and reconnect with your family again. Having peaceful moments at home, especially during isolation, is so vital to living a better life.
3. Learn to listen carefully
Develop some active listening skills to ensure that you give your loved ones some attention that they deserve. Paying attention to what others say is meant to impress them and make appropriate responses based on the conversation. You will also get exposed to new ideas and experiences and significantly foster a deep relationship with your loved ones.
4. Be polite
There is actually no need to be rough with your loved ones. You need to be polite and act in kindness while interacting with other people. Greeting other people and even showing some appreciation when they offer you something is a good idea to keep a closer relationship with them. Being rough and shouting at others will only result in anger and negative thoughts about your behaviors.
5. Learn to respect others
Respect is always key to keeping a good relationship with other people; therefore, you should learn to treat other people in a good way while acknowledging your differences and respecting their ideas as well. This, however, does not mean that you agree on everything that they say but simply appreciating their preferences, experiences, and all that they like. Being respectful allows other people to treat you in a similar way.
6. Be a responsible person
You need to be responsible for everything that you do. If you have made mistakes, then you do not need to blame other people for probably causing you to do the wrong thing. Learn to admit your mistakes and take the responsibility to learn from your actions and prevent such mistakes from happening in the future. Making excuses for hurting others may cause anger and hatred amongst yourselves; therefore, the best way out is simply learning to act responsibly for all your actions.
7. Establish priorities together
Learn to work out your priorities together. Sidelining yourself and making all decisions solely may not be an excellent gesture to other people. You need to appreciate other peoples’ opinions and work together on joint issues that affect you all.
Living in isolation with your loved ones may be difficult for most families. You may have different characters but you need to drop your differences and foster good relationships during the isolation period. Learn to become a good person and treat other people well to keep your family bond strong.
Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
