Treat your friends as you would a bank account - refrain from drawing too heavily on either.
--Samuel Johnson
"You know," somebody admitted, "I've never really allowed myself to have good friends.
"I always put myself in two extreme roles. Either I think it's my duty to 'save' everyone, or I think it's someone else's function to 'save' me. I set myself up for very dissatisfactory relationships that way. I don't grow very much nor do the people I'm involved with grow much. We get locked into Parent-Child, Teacher-Student, and Counselor-Client kinds of roles.
"I'm tired of empty and lopsided friendships. I want good friends, not parasites or Messiahs running my life. I want friends I can just be me with and not worry whether I'm one-up or one-down on them. I want friends who will accept me as I am and not expect me to have all the answers for all the questions all the time."
TODAY I will examine what I expect of myself and my friendships. As a friend, do I expect myself to give all the advice and have all the answers? Do I expect my friends to take care of me, and give me all the answers? If my friendships are not satisfactory, I will work on enlarging my concept of what a friend is. I will also work on improving the quality of my own friendship.
3 comments:
Wise stuff. I thinknmof all my friendships as good ones. I don't always believe they they think the same about me, but that's the PTSD talking usually.
I do know that you are my friend. That is one extremely important thing in my life.
Peace
Love this one, Mel!
Especially that quote from Samuel Johnson - BRILLIANT!
I don't have a large circle of friends, but the ones I do have are quality. We may not see or talk to each other everyday, but we're there if needed.
I think the best thing you can be sometimes with friendships, is be present, and be a good listener. And wait to be asked to speak.
Thank you, dear lady, for being a GREAT friend!
((((( You )))))
X ya!
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