Relationships...

"What one relationship do you want to work on this semester, and what concrete steps will you take to do so?"

This is the only question on my psychology homework.  I have no clue how to answer; I hope by writing this out I can help myself figure it out, and maybe somebody else too.

The first part is really not that hard.  I just need to look at my life and find relationships that I wish were better.  I could say my parents, my brother, a friend, or even that girl I've been wanting to ask out for the past month.  I'm sure we all look around, and see relationships that are sub-par.

However, my trouble comes with the second part: "What steps will you take to [work on it]?"
I look at all these relationships and see factors that are out of my control, or faults of other people.  I am having a hard time finding just one relationship where I am at fault for the problems.

I feel like I do my best to be a good son to my parents, and show support for what I do, but I just wish they would pull back a bit, and let me be my own person (I mean, I am 18 now).  What can I do to improve my relationship with my parents?  I don't really know.

I have not been getting along with my brother as well recently, but the only problem I can see is him pulling away and being less agreeable.

(I could repeat this for every relationship in my life, but I think I'll save you the reading for now.)

I think this illustrates an important part of who many people are: we are quick to find fault in others, but cannot find fault in ourselves.  I could say "I want to improve my relationship with my best friend," but I can't figure out what explicit steps I can take to do so.

I guess to wrap things up for now, I have not really solved anything.  I mostly just ranted at the screen for the past 350 words.  If this actually gets published, or if I come back with a solution later, I hope it is helpful to at least one reader in the future.

~Anonymous Teen