Do you know who your friends are?

Most people have friends. Some have a few, others have many.

 

Young people, today, can remember the time when they were young children. They had imaginary friends. I guess, when you think about it, we all did.

However, as time passes, young people have found that they have thousands of ‘friends’. But are they truly ‘friends’ or just ‘names’? We have all heard of people who have over a million ‘friends’ on Facebook.

They could be sitting next to each other at a movie, on a train, or be at an event and not know the irony of being ‘friends’ with them.

We know that most of them are not ‘true’ friends. In fact, nowhere near being true friends. And yet we maintain the nonsense of calling them ‘friends’.

Some years ago, I was talking to a well-known person in London. She was a television personality, radio commentator, author, delivered speeches and ran seminars. Sandra was concerned at the degree of difficulty she was having in trying to keep up with her ‘friends’, or contacts. Most of these were in her CRM, on her email listings, in her mind and a few were in her telephone. And yet, Sandra felt that she needed to stay in touch with the people whom she had met in various situations.

I asked “Could she tell me the names of your friends?” “

Yes, my good friends and people with whom I had recently spoken with. I have a vague memory of the others and could think about your question and give you the answer. That may take some time.”

When it boils down, not many of us know who all of our friends are. If we hear from them, meet them in the street or see their names, we will specifically, or vaguely, remember them.

Many do not know their neighbours or colleagues.

It has been proven that one of the most important aspects of having a long life is to have many close friends. I’m not necessarily talking about the people you see at a football match, a club or at work. I am talking about real, ‘fair dinkum’ friends. It is your responsibility to develop friends.

You may be surprised how few friends who you actually make, each year. It can be easy, or sometimes difficult, to make friends.

It would be easy to just make a list. However, I am suggesting that you make a different list. One which will surprise you, for sure, and will make you think about the relationships you have with people. Choose your own headings or categories. Just do it……you will be surprised.

Here are some suggestions to help you begin your journey.

Trust friends.
Must friends.
Evolving friends.
Just friends.
Just contacts
Rust friends.

Subjectively decide on what you think the titles mean.

One of my goals is to ‘continually expand my circle of friends’.

Yes, I work on it every day. I talk to as many people as I can without creating any surprises or ill feeling. It is surprising how those new contacts / friendships develop.

Never ignore your real friends. All it needs for a friendship to be destroyed is for complacency to set in. Take up the challenge of being the person who tries to maintain the friendship. None of this ‘Oh, they never call me’.

How you make others feel about themselves says a lot about you.