With every new year comes the idea of starting anew, of having a fresh start. This can come in the form of your health or fitness, what you do for a living, or where you live. Or, it can be your relationships; ones you have or, in some cases, ones you miss.
When it comes to the latter, perhaps you have relatives that have estranged themselves from you and the rest of the family. With the start of the new year, you may find yourself thinking about that relative more often, especially if you were once very close with them.
However, even if you didn’t really know them very well, it can still be difficult knowing that part of your family is missing. But what if you take matters into your own hands? If you want to start over and reach out, why not try and find that relative and reconnect? There are a few ways you might be able to do it:
-Feel out other family members
-Ask friends
-Look on social media
-Use an online people search
Ask the Rest of Your Family
Even if it seems like your entire family has cut off an estranged relative, you can still try and ask around a little bit. For at least some of these people, it could more about keeping up appearances than really cutting a relative off. In that case, you may find that a member of the family never really cut off a relative, but rather just kept the relationship more quiet.
The family members who would be most likely to still keep in contact are those who were close with the estranged relative. And even now, they haven’t spoken very much about disliking the relative in question. For example, if your sister was once very close with your estranged cousin and still mentions him fondly, she could be the perfect person to go to first.
Talk to Close Family Friends
Even if all your family members have indeed cut the estranged family member out completely, family friends can sometimes bridge that gap. Many family friends can simply compartmentalize those relationships. They may see nothing wrong with maintaining a friendship with all family members, even those who have distanced themselves from the rest of the family.
There are plenty of ways to get in touch with close family friends, whether they’re still close with your family, or that relationship has faded. Plus, if this friend has been close with your family for years, you may be able to sit down and reminisce about what it was like when you were much younger. You may just end up rekindling that relationship as well.
Search on Social Media
With the variety of social media searching filters and opportunities available out there, it’s very possible that you might just stumble upon the person by looking around your favorite social media platform.
This may not be very useful if the estranged relative has an extremely common last name. But it can be especially helpful if the last name isn’t very common, especially in the area in which you live.
When searching by last name, keep in mind that the estranged person may not currently go by the last name you remember. Estrangement usually happens because one or both parties have negative feelings about the family. So, it’s very possible that the other person would get rid of any name associated with the family. Try searching for maiden names, the last name of that individual’s significant other, and anything else you can think of.
Try an Online People Search
If you’re looking for an estranged family member, odds are you’re also interested in reconnecting. A people search engine can be one of the best ways for you to do so. With a people search engine, you can start rebuilding the family tree that’s currently broken. And you can also potentially get current contact information you need to reach out to an estranged family member.
Go online, and run a people search using your estranged relative’s name. Then, comb through the results until you find the record that matches your relative’s information. From there, you could find a variety of contact information, possibly even including current phone numbers and email addresses.
Conclusion
It can be hard to experience estrangement, whether you’re the estranged family member or you’re part of the family left behind. If one of your family members has become estranged and you want to get back in touch, any one of the options outlined above may just be able to make it easier for you.
Photo credit: Stillfx – stock.adobe.com
