Let’s focus today on the importance of investing and making sure that we are always making time to be there for our family. Let’s ensure that we create opportunities to build lifelong memories with them and never become too busy to do so.
I think today, more than ever, we’re all so busy that it really requires diligence and focus to schedule and create meaningful time that we can spend with our families. This is particularly true as our busy schedules conflict because of family, careers and other responsibilities.
I have one brother who is five years younger than me and has two young children. His name is Jared. We’ve always been super close growing up, even though we’re five years apart.
One of the things that I am extremely grateful for is a childhood in which I was fortunate to have amazing parents and an amazing younger brother who I can still call a best friend today, even as adults.
I also know that this isn’t always the case, and siblings don’t always get along. Sometimes as they grow older, they fall less and less in touch, can become distant and, in certain cases, not even talk to one another.
I find this to be very hard to comprehend and think it’s unfortunate when this happens—but I understand that it does.
My brother and I talk pretty much every day. I see him as often as I can, which is more difficult now that he lives in Virginia and we are both extremely busy.
I thought it would be a really great gift to give him a ticket to a very special event that I was attending in Southern California. The entire event was focused on designing your perfect life and career and building it to match your vision, but doing it in a way that places high ambition in harmony with a high quality of life and experience.
We flew out a little bit ahead of time, rented a fun, fast car and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to explore California and areas that he’d never visited. I couldn’t have been more excited to spend some quality time with my younger brother.
I wanted to really connect and build on our friendship and relationship on this mini-vacation, capped off and followed by the privilege of attending an amazing event in San Diego at the end of the week.
The reason why I’m sharing this is that it’s really important that we realize how short life really is and how important our relationships are with our family members, particularly our siblings.
To develop a sibling relationship into a friendship takes work, commitment and getting over differences in personality and approaches to life that may have caused divisions or conflicts in childhood growing up.
But life is really short, and I find it tragic when I see siblings don’t talk at all due to differences in opinion or their outlook as adults.
So I want to encourage everyone, whether you have a good relationship, okay relationship, or no relationship with your siblings or maybe another family member that you’ve fallen out of touch with, take the time today, this week, to reach out.
Take the time to tell them that you’ve been thinking about them and that you hope they’re doing well, that you’re here for them and that you’d like to see them. Then start small and schedule a phone call to catch up.
Perhaps you could build from a phone call into a time when you can get together and really connect, bond and catch up.
Even if there was an event or something that really put a divide between you, the worst thing that can happen is living with the regret and the wonder of a relationship that could have been.
Neither of my parents had very close relationships with either of their siblings, and I watched the effect that had on them and the family, so I committed to never letting that happen with my younger brother.
I’m happy, proud and grateful that we have the friendship we have, and I’m going to continue to invest in that and do the work it takes to keep that healthy.
Let’s GO!
Power Quote
“The family is the center of life, and it is the key to eternal happiness.” —L. Tom Perry
Key Insight
I think today, more than ever, we’re all so busy that it really requires diligence and focus to schedule in and create meaningful time that we can spend with our families and our siblings, particularly as our busy schedules conflict because of family, careers and other responsibilities.
Tactical Tip
Call your parents, siblings, cousins—any relative that you are close to—and reconnect. If you don’t have family, call a close friend and connect with them.
Day Check
Who did you reconnect with today? How did it feel to talk to someone you feel a connection with?