Letters to the Editor
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Hit stop
Dear LW,
Traveling with kids can be torturous. Staying for 3 weeks sounds unbearable, even in the best circumstances. You didn't do anything wrong, but now you know that your time was too long in one place and that your family has different 'standards'.
That sounds like the trip from hell and I have been there, many times. The worst arguments I've had with family were under jet-lagged and cramped conditions in which expectation clashed with communication. It takes years to undo a few angry words in some families.
We cannot expect others to perceive experience similarly or that they will communicate in the same manner we choose. That is a fast track to considerable suffering! You can continue to act with integrity and kindness and you can take responsibility for anything that you have control over.
The gravity of family may be stronger than we know, but we can choose not to play the same tape and not be part of the same story.