Meeting the In-Laws?: Navigating a Functional Family when You Come From Dysfunction

The Different-Functional Podcast

It’s here guys. We’re in the thick of it, and we don’t mean mashed potatoes and gravy. We mean the holiday season. Dun, Dun, Dun! If you grew up with a dysfunctional family, you probably had at least a few traumatic holidays with them and that can make you a little skittish when the turkey and jingle bells start coming out. Family is hard. Holidays are stressful. But if you’re dealing with your own family at least you know what to expect. However, what if you’re not dealing with them? What if you’re meeting your partner’s family for the first time instead? And what if they’re…. “normal”? That sounds like it would be a relief, but it can be equally if not even more intimidating. When you’re only used to dysfunction, trauma, and abuse it can be difficult to know how you should interact with a family that is close-knit and loving, where no one screams or throws chairs or burns the food just to be spiteful. We get it, we’ve been there ourselves. So if you’re stressed and struggling to figure out how to navigate this holiday season with the future in-laws we’ve put together a list of questions for you to consider and talk over with your partner so you can feel a little more prepared for whatever uncertainty comes your way. If you enjoy the podcast don’t forget to subscribe and please leave us a rating and review. And if you’d like to support us on Patreon you can find us at www.patreon.com/differentfunctional Thanks for listening!