It may sound wrong but, some families are relieved to find out that your family is not as perfect as they thought. It’s not that they’re happy that your family has struggles, but knowing that your family has struggled, helps them remove the perfectionistic expectations they assume they have to meet, and they can just be who they are.
Or they can just deal with their issues and not worry about other people finding out or judging them for it.
If friends find out you’ve been to marriage counseling, they’re more likely to be open to the idea as well. If you struggled with a wayward child, they’re more likely to feel that it may be normal as well.
This should not be permission to dump your issues on everyone else, by no means. In the right timing and the right limited conditions, it could be very beneficial to share your sorrows with others. There’s just a small sense of relief that they are not the only ones who struggle. It’s part of our humanity to want to hide or limit the knowledge of our struggles and failures. But knowing we are not the only ones you have struggled allows us a small window to feel normal with struggle.
