People In Your Life

As you go throughout your life, you run into different people along the way.  Each of them meaning something different to you in your life, especially if they stay a bit longer than the man at the coffee stand this morning, or the woman you sat next to on the subway on the afternoon ride home.  Identifying what each one means to you can mean the difference of success and failure in a lot of different ways.  Moreover, knowing who is who in your life can help you avoid or enjoy many years with the right people.  So here are a few things to remember about the people in your life.

FRIENDS

When I say friends, this is not the person you hang out with when you go bowling, or the person you see at the parties here and there but your true friends. Someone you can confide in.  These can be mentors as well as friends of any age, sex, or financial status. If you have 3 or 4 of them in your lifetime, consider yourself lucky, so if you don't have a lot of these, don't feel so bad or be concerned.  Additionally, to dedicate the right amount of care, you cannot have a lot of friends, such as 15-30 or so,  because that friendship would become diluted.  

Friends are about growing together.  They help you, guide you and do their best to be patient with you when you are not at your best.  They may not always be there with you, but most trials and tribulations they will go through with you.  Their phone call is just the same as a knock on the door.  If they can’t help you, then they say so or do there best to find someone who can.  The best part about friends is that they are there to charge you up when you have given so much to others that look up to you or you lead in some way.  Additionally they stop you from making a mistake, and telling you when you are wrong.  They tell you the truth, not because they want to hurt you, but because it will help you.

You cannot get to your full potential unless you have a few of these.  Remember is that you can be friend to someone else, however they are not a friend to you.  There is nothing wrong with that.  But normally it is reciprocal.  Your romantic partner in life should be your friend.

ACQUAINTANCE

Also known as “casual friends”.  They are about, your reputation and just like the things you like.  They will hang with you when things go well and might be around if they aren’t.  However they will not get in the weeds with you.  If they find someone else that gets them closer to where they want to be, they will go with them.  Examples of this are people who you go to events with from time to time, and have no real prior history other than just those events or situations.  Sometimes this is a casual running group, people who go bowling or to the movies, or even work on a project.  Once the project is done, then you rarely hear from them.  Another example of this are short term romantic relationships, since they like you because of what you are doing or your current image, not because of you and what you are about.  The caveat here is that people can easily mistake them for friends, because the two are similar.  Acquaintance can become a friend over time, which is a good thing.  When you receive less than what you feel in return consistently, then they could be an acquaintance.  

TEMPORARY ACQUAINTANCE

People that you know or will meet that you will know for a short time, and may see here and there because of circles of friends or places you go, but are short lived because they are here to fulfill a purpose.  This is commonly referred as the person who was in your life for a reason.  They may help you see or realize something, or help you change direction.  

Think of it this way, when you travel on a plane, most of the time you go alone, and there are 200+ people flying with you.  During that flight time, 1-18+ hours, you are in it together, if something happens, you will work together to get through it, but once the plane lands, that’s it.  Or when there is construction, all the equipment arrives to do the repairs, yet once the job is done, then everything is removed and whatever was repaired.  This would be something that you are working on in your life, and they helped you through it.    Converging to a specific place because of a common purpose, but when its all done.  This can be great because they help you get through it, but can be bad if you think they are your friend and not.  A lot of people get hurt this way.

DISTANT ACQUAINTANCE

This is one that most people don't pay too much attention to, not because of how infrequent you see them, but their importance to you.  These are people that you know, who are good for the most part, however there is something or some habit that you don't like, and seeing them in some way, is a reminder of what not to do or a past that isn’t so glamorous to you.    For example, that one person who is great, but always gets drunk and becomes disrespectful.  The person who always cheats on their partner, or gambles.  The one who is always single because of the unrealistic standards for a partner.  They are important to you because they display the behaviors of something you don’t like and see the results of what happens.  The important part of all this is to watch out, because you might just be this person to someone else.  So do a self evaluation and if so, make the adjustments so you are a different type of friend.