ant as they could be because we all have difficulty with self-disclosure. I personally find myself withholding, masking, not displaying, and not describing my feelings with my step family. We are all just getting to know each other so, I think, we are still in the sharing of biographical data and personal ideas. I know in particular, with my stepsister, that I can not achieve the level of sharing my feelings any time soon. I believe that we both messed up and went against the guidelines for appropriate self-disclosure because we opened up too much, too fast without having full trust or knowing that it would be reciprocated. On the other hand I have a wonderful relationship with my father. He and I express our thoughts and feelings openly about everything. It wasnt always so open though. Like most men, my dad had trouble disclosing his feelings. Fortunately, he and I overcame that obstacle together, because I wasnt good at it either. It took a lot of time and effort to get our relationship to where it is today but it was worth it.The communication process is not yet perfected in my step family but then again is it perfected with any relationship? Whos to say if it is or isnt, as long as it works for the individual. I hope one day that everyone in my step family will be able to reach the point where we can disclose ourselves to each other. Until then, we will go on with our cycle of sending, receiving, encoding, decoding, and just trying to get along....
