Recommended for you

Start writing a post

Relationships

Family Is Not Always Blood-Related

Your feelings are valid.

Morgan Harry

Sep 19, 2016

Hagerstown, MD

1674

Deviant Art

It is okay to hate a "family member." It is okay to hate the way they make you feel. It is okay to hate the words or the looks. The times they ignore you, when you need someone there. The way that they control you, far more than anyone ever should. It is okay to hate going home to family members who do not value you.

Our world tells us that the blood is thicker than water. Well, guess what? The real phrase is, "The blood of the convent is thicker than the water of the womb." Do you know what that means? That means that relationships formed by choice are stronger than those formed by birth. Birthing a child does not entitle anyone to love nor respect. They have to earn it. If they do not treat you with love and respect, then they do not deserve it either.

Family. Family is a word that is taught incorrectly to children. We assume that because these people are with us in our genes that there is some higher level of bonding than with any other individual, but that is simply an assumption. A family is a group of people who came into your life, and never left, no matter what happened. A family is a group of people who you love and trust, but who also love and trust you. They give you a place in their hearts that matches their place in yours. It does not matter what point in the story they entered, because once they entered, they never left. They did not have to be there since day one.

Your family is a group that you decide. Maybe your parents are there, maybe they are not. They do not have to be. It is okay if they aren't. Nothing says they have to be. Do not let other people tell you that your family is not your family simply because they weren't there since your birth, or because they did not have a part in said birth. If your pets can come into your family after many years, and stay a part of your family, when they very clearly are not blood related, then why can't another person? Hold true to your feelings, and the end of the day, those feelings are what is going to matter to you. If someone is making those feelings hurt, then kick them to the curb! You do not have any requirement to tolerate them! A real family would not ever make you question your worth.

Report this Content

This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

Student Life

The 12 Stages Of Course Registration, As Told By "Friends"

No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

The State University of New York at Stony Brook

7618

YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less

registration

Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

Florida International University

303420

Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause

StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less

Entertainment

13 Times April Ludgate Perfectly Explained College

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

2320

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

april ludgate

Recommended for you

Family Is Not Always Blood-Related

Your feelings are valid.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

What is the current minimum wage at the federal level?

What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

Told through Parks & Recreation GIFs

Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

Trending Topics

Top Creators

Trending Stories

Best of Relationships

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments

Subscribe to our
Newsletter