Brother problems...

[amusedandconfused]

Hello, users of the guild. Obviously, I come here seeking advice, so hear me out. I have a brother (well, three, actually, and a sister, but right now we're only discussing one) who is about a year and a half older than me and has been a humongous influence on my life. Which presents two problems.

Problem number one is that recently he's gotten into the habit of berating, leacturing, and even yelling at me when I do something he sees as wrong. A lot of the time it is something that I could/should amend: my nervousness on the feild in the team we're both on, my shyness with people, my habit of feeling sorry for myself. But when he's driving me home from school and talking about me to my face about how I should do this, and how any argument I offer is either an excuse or complaint, it hurts my feelings a lot. I can't stand up to him: he scares me, and I know he's right most of the time. But I hate sitting back and just letting him bully me, especially since he keeps coming back to the same topics and repeating himself when I don't seem to follow his advice in his eyes. I can't think of what to do.

The second problem is that he's a senior in high school...or rather, he was, since his graduation is on Teusday. I can't imagine life without him. My dad's kind of a bully, and my brother can't stand him, so once he goes to college I might not really hear from him very often. And, the above problem nonwithstanding, he's very intelligent and witty, and he's totally hilarious, and life will be so boring without him. I've been "so-and-so's little sister" all my life...how can I adjust to him not being there?  

[Pesca]

Maybe the way reason that your brother is acting like that is about the whole going away to college thing. He might realize that he may not be able to see you all the time anymore and he wants to try to help you with your self-esteem. To him that seems like a good way for you to remember him, as someone who helped (yelled) you with your issues.

Also, he might not realize that he's doing what he's doing (and note, if he does, I'm only going off of what you have written) If I were you, I'd try to tell him calmly that you don't feel comfortable with the way he's been acting.

Hope that helped a little.  

[amusedandconfused]

*sigh* Good advice...I almost did the note thing...then I chickened out. ^.^" I've gotta toughen up...still, thanks, all.