004 | David | How Forgiveness and Emotional Transparency can Help You Build Healthy Relationships with Your Parents

In this show, Najwa conducts an emotional and insightful interview that is full of great tips on how to build or mend a parent-child relationship.

In this show, our interviewee David reveals how his relationship with his father suffered a setback and they stopped talking for a while following a heated argument. A protective son, David stood up for his mother and asked his father to help out with household chores. His father did not take kindly to this suggestion, and, in a fit of anger, stated that he wished that his son was never born.

David, reeling in hurt and shock, distanced himself from his father. However, over time, he realized that he needed to overlook the negatives in his father, and concentrate on the positives instead.

In this show, we delve deeply into the nuances of a parent-child relationship and contemplate why relationships tend to go sour over time. We point out how men and women have different ways of tackling emotions and relationships. Men, particularly the older ones, have a difficult time expressing their feelings and showing vulnerability.

How can you, as a child, ensure that you don’t drift away from your father as you grow older? And, how can fathers understand their children, and do their bit to keep their bond healthy and strong?

The most important takeaway from this show is the power of forgiveness. David reveals how he ended the impasse with his father. Choosing to move on, David expressed how proud he was of his father. His older and now-mellow father completely broke down and hugged his son.

Hearing David recount his heart-wrenching personal experiences makes us realize that it is better to move on sooner rather than later. Are you losing out on years of warmth and laughter because you are not making the first move to mend your relationship? David urges listeners to avoid sliding into the typical mentality where emotional transparency is perceived as a sign of weakness.

We wrap up this show with some great tips on how to tackle anxiety and depression. Tune in for some excellent insights!