Do You Really Want to Reconcile With Your Estranged Sibling?

Key points

Families may pressure, but successful reconciliation requires both siblings to desire healing and connection.

Understanding the past enables you to approach reconciliation with clarity rather than confusion.

Taking responsibility is vital to moving forward.

Understanding that reconciliation takes time helps to avoid frustration and disappointment.

Sibling estrangement can be a wrenching, devastating experience, as a brother or sister must adjust to life without a crucial family member. Or, if the relationship was toxic, it can be liberating.

Either way, the estranged have lost a precious connection to someone who shares their roots and earliest memories. Siblings have been called the “shared historians” of childhood .

Reconciliation can stir up painful memories and pow