Between The Hair-Pulling And Secret-Keeping, Siblings Turn Into Best Friends

From competing with one another to uniting in their dislike of the same relatives, this one goes out to the sibling bonds that are anything but simple.

author-image
Kanishka Tandon
New Update
jaane tu ya

The emotional whirlwind of being a sibling, from intense love to maddening frustration, sums up well as a love-hate type of relationship. During one’s formative years, siblings often feel like our greatest rivals. We remember constant squabbles, arguments, and the frustration of being tattled on. One night, we share secret snacks, only to wake up as enemies the next day, perhaps over a hidden chocolate bar.

Advertisment

Growing up, it can be a struggle to get along. The older sibling might feel left out, believing the younger one receives preferential treatment, while the younger sibling sees the elder as a blabbermouth. Yet, this intense childhood rivalry often transforms as we get older and wiser.

Films On Brother Sister Relationship

How My Sibling and I Found Our Way to Each Other:

My sibling, once my fiercest competitor, became my loudest cheerleader and my most trusted confidante. What changed? The people are the same, but now we bond over shared experiences, such as navigating family disputes, secretly disliking the same relative, or even processing childhood traumas together. 

My relationship with my sibling has developed so much over the years that I can count on her for anything or everything. Earlier, our constant fights ranged from arguing over switching between Oswald or Thomas and His Friends (cartoons) to wrestling for control over the TV remote, with the winner feeling like royalty. I believed her as a tattletale - not even mistakenly trusting her. These clashes, which once seemed so pertinent, now bring laughter as we look back on them.

To my surprise, my sister has now become my go-to for everything. I would pester her with endless questions, treating her like my personal search engine, and demand her opinion on everything from the silliest things to endlessly bugging her to pick the perfect photo out of ten (eight of which were the exact same pose). Back then, I used to hide my social media from her (we have an age gap of six years), but she's since become my most trusted confidant.

Advertisment

We went from keeping secrets to sharing each detail, including the boy we despised and life's biggest challenges.

AAAABYjfGotZDXRtCpeTAFPS7TX0vQeEK_DmG9hukJ1MrnS2GRrcVfKvLABz1NlhhgJf8RYENFNL7tm8spECs6YCH1AU0g1Um89nfkKP
Les Sisters Photograph: (Netflix)

How Siblings Contribute to Your Mental Wellness:

We often take our siblings for granted, not realising they might be our unpaid therapists. While friendships are important, they can also be fleeting. We sometimes outgrow friends due to different life paths, moving to new cities, or just a simple lack of communication. But the bond with a sibling is a lifelong one (it might vary for some), a constant through all the changing seasons of life.

Sometimes when forming friendships, we bond with people distinct from us, such as having different family incomes, different party plans and excursions, often creating a burden to manage and sustain the friendship, while disturbing our own pocket. But as siblings, you share the same family backgrounds, same values, often making it easy to blend in and be your own self without the pressure of constantly putting effort.

They witness our lowest moments, seeing us at our absolute worst and even through tears, yet they consistently show up when it matters most. Of course, this doesn't mean the relationship is without conflict. We might have our fair share of fights, sometimes going days without speaking, but these disagreements often make our bond even stronger in the end.

Advertisment

So, if you have your sibling(s) around you, give them a tight hug, and if you aren’t on talking terms, initiate that conversation. Who knows, if they might become your human diary?

Views expressed by the author are their own.

siblings