Your family and friends can either be a great resource to your own personal development or they can be detrimental to your growth.
When I speak about family, I generally consider these to be people who are related to you and with whom you have close contact. They can include your mother, father, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. Your own children as well as your spouse or life partner are also considered family.
It is so important for you to have the support of these familial relationships on your journey of growth. You will however find that people have very different views to self development. While some just may not seem to see the need for growth others may consider it a waste of time.
On the other hand you may find a family member who seems to want to hijack your journey. There is a very fine line between being supportive and becoming over involved. The key word here is SELF development and as important as support is, you must not include people at your own detriment.
Sabotage is another problem that you must be aware of in your family members. This comes in the form of someone who sees your growth and no longer feels their own worth in the relationship. These people may begin criticizing you unnecessarily damaging your self confidence.
As you begin on the path to self development it is important to gauge where each of your family members stand. For those family members who are untrustworthy of the process, share on a limited basis how your growth is affecting you. Rely on those who are supportive but be selective in choosing the advice they may offer.
Be careful not to alienate those nearest and dearest to you. Don't over stress your achievements and make your journey about humility as well as growth. Remember that self development includes all areas of life and that a negative element to your growth will put everything else out of balance.
Make sure that the time you spend on your self development does not take away from your family. This is especially true when you have children who rely on you for so much. They can consider your personal development to be selfish and begin to resent you as well as the process.
A great rule of thumb is to always be considerate of those around you and address any issues that may arise. For example, your mother or father may feel that your need for self development means that they were somehow inadequate as parents.
Although your parents may not be able to word these feelings or objections, be sensitive. Keep reassuring them that you just want to be a better person than they already made you and that without them, you would never have been in a position to consider improving yourself.
Make one of your self development goals to be more supportive of your family. You will be surprised how the support will be returned to you in bucket loads.
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