Family is our foundation. It is through family that we learn our first interactions with the world. It teaches us how to love and be loved, how to offer and receive support and how to respect others while earning their respect. It provides the framework for our views of the world. The socially acceptable version of family is the people who are biologically related to you.
However, when you look at what a family actually means, you realize that family can be anyone, the people you were born to or the people you choose to be with. Love them or hate them, you cannot deny the fact that your family is pivotal in your life and there are quite a few reasons for that.
A family provides us with a sense of security. It acts as the bulwark against the world that we need. On a purely practical level, we are unable to care for ourselves when we come into the world. It is our family who takes care of our basic needs and protects us. As we grow older, that protection expands to give us a place where we can find emotional security as well.
Our first social interactions are with our family. Hence, a family has great influence over how we interact with each other and society at large. For any kind of productive interaction, we need to follow certain rules and norms. Our family imparts the knowledge of these norms to us and these norms are called values. They determine not just the interactions but the thinking that goes behind those interactions.
You’ve got the promotion at work or the top grades in school. Imagine having no one to talk to about it. You decide to go on a vacation. Imagine having to do it all alone. You lost your job or had your heart broken. Imagine having no one who can listen to your sorrows. A family does all of this for us and so much more. It makes us happy and fulfilled.
Without a family we end up navigating the calms, the storms and the choppy waters of life all alone. If we do not have a family to anchor us, we often fail at this navigation and drown under the force of everything life throws at us. Family gives us the strength we need to get through the bad times and celebrates the good times with us.