Friends

Friends, how many of us have them? Well first, I would say you would have to define what a friend is according to your own definition (outside of family members). I am sure not everyone has the same definition of what one is though. Personally, a friend to me is one whom I consider family. One who I can be myself with and who does not judge me for not being pretty enough, rich enough, fashionable enough or smart enough. A friend is one who respects my opinions and who genuinely wishes the best for me and my life. There is no jealousy, there is no superiority and there is no competition. There is mutual respect and appreciation for the one another. That to me is a friend and I am happy to say, after thinking about it, I have 5 friends. They, whom I shall not name due to public blogging, are all that I have mentioned above.
You may say to yourself "only 5????" lol....I guess the revaluation of relationships make you realize that some people don't actually know you at all and vise versa. Of course I have people I associate with and who I genuinely care for, but I cannot say they KNOW me and KNOW about my life. Unfortunately, with each year that goes by and with each person that I meet, I have learned friends are not a common phenomenon. Of course we have the "friends" on facebook or whatever social network you may be a part of, but that of course is a friend by social networking definition.
I have a responsibility to myself and my family; I have to LIVE my life and surround myself with all the good things that will allow me to do so. With this said, I have chosen not to associate with many people over the years, not because I was upset with them or thought they were bad people, but because I felt they did not have a place in my life. Yes, that may sound cold and arrogant, but I don't believe in being an opportunist. I don't believe in taking advantage of people to advance in life or career nor do I believe in making myself feel better by hanging out with someone less fortunate. YES...people really DO that!!
I challenge you to define what a friend is to you, review the relationships you have and eliminate the negative, the draining and the opportunists. Think about the support group you would like to have and work on those relationships. Life is even more beautiful when you have wonderful people to take the journey with. To close, I want to thank those 5 friends of mine. Thank you for taking this journey with me and making all the crap worthwhile....looking forward to many more years of friendship.