How Your Relationship with Your Parents Shapes Your Success—Even If It’s Complicated

After my parents divorced, my dad and I lived in different countries from the time I was 14. As I got older, I came to mourn the influence I missed from him during those critical years of adolescence and young adulthood.

Families are rarely simple. They can be messy, complicated, even painful—but working through that messiness is vital to truly thriving in life. For years, I’ve been intentional about my relationships with both my mom and dad, and it still amazes me how much talking to them every week matters, even though we’re spread across three different countries.

Right now, Deb and I are in La Serena, a beautiful old town in northern Chile, spending time with my family. We’ve had dinner on the beach, enjoyed the best Chilean empanadas and wine, and dived into deep, uninterrupted conversations—and we still have two more weeks to go. One of my plans for this trip is to film a long interview with my dad and share it on YouTube, dubbed in multiple languages.

My dad is 85 years old, still sharp, still dynamic. He’s an engineer, speaks five languages, survived a concentration camp in Chile after a military coup, served as mayor of his hometown, and lived in four different countries across three continents. Most of my strengths—my character, my mindset, even my laugh—come from him.

That doesn’t mean our relationship was always easy. There were years I resented him for certain decisions and behaviors. But we worked through it. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.

My dad still has one of my old posters in his house in Chile.

My dad still has one my old posters in his house in Chile, I didn’t know this until I saw it yesterday. That alone is worth the trip and speaks volumes. We may be 5,000 miles apart, but the depth of connection is impossible to overstate.

No matter how complicated, our relationships with our parents and our past hold keys to our future success, resilience, and emotional well-being. And even if you’ve already lost one or both of your parents, there are ways to reclaim and integrate their influence in a way that strengthens your life moving forward.

In the full article, I’ll unpack exactly why this matters—and how to take meaningful steps, whether you’re rebuilding, reconnecting, or learning to make peace with what was.

If this resonates with you, you may also want to join my next subscriber-only webinar:

Developing Anti-Fragility—How to Thrive in Times of Change and Through Suffering.

📅 March 26th at 12 PM CST

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