Things I’ve Learned About People In 2023 Part Two

I had a hard time falling asleep the last couple nights. My mind seems to be most active when I’m trying to get to sleep. I think one of the things on my list for 2024 is to bring back meditation time. There was a time that it was a priority to me and it made a huge difference with what goes on in my brain. It seems as though I’ve let a lot of my good habits slide and I don’t think that’s really working for me anymore.

As I reread my post over the last couple mornings (part of my obsessive process), I realized that I forgot the other side of it all. My apologies on that. I was so focused on putting at least one more entry up before the end of 2023 and making sure it didn’t take anyone 25 minutes to scroll through it that I published it before I finished it. My creative process can be a little…scattered sometimes. I want to preface this with the note that I use relationship and friendship interchangeably. There are varying degrees of both, but I’ll clarify it when and if I need to. For the purposes of this, I’m talking about the friendship relationship 🙂 

I forgot to mention that there are also people that will exceed every possible expectation you think you have and ones you don’t even know exist yet. They will eventually become the new benchmark for what you will accept in your life and space. They will surprise you with their love, kindness, thoughtfulness. There are people that will show up for you and with you through whatever stage you’re in with no agenda other than to let you be you while they get to be themselves. They support you, they are honest with you in all the ways you need. They will find a way around the walls you’ve spent so long constructing to protect yourself. 

You may also have relationships where you don’t talk everyday or see each other as often as you’d like, but every time you get together it’s like no time has passed. You pick right back up where you left off without missing a beat. I have a couple of these and they are so incredibly precious to me. It’s not that we don’t disagree or that everything is beautiful and perfect all the time. We simply have enough trust and respect that we survive through time and space. We’ve watched each other evolve over the years and there has been space held at every step. I would not be who I am without these friendships, without these people. 

I’ve always fancied myself a people collector. Not in the serial killer sort of way. I have friendships with people at all ages and stages and they all bring out the best parts of me. It’s a little funny when a few of us get together because, individually, they’re all so incredibly different but they compliment each other in all the best ways. It just fits. I believe you need all kinds of people in your life because without experiences on all fronts, how do you know who YOUR people are? How do you learn anything if you are never exposed to anything different than what you think you know?

You teach people how to treat you. The good ones won’t ever take advantage of that. And the other ones? At some point, there won’t be space for them and it’ll be time to let them go. A reason, a season or a lifetime. That’s how it works. I think.

Happy New Year friends. May 2024 be exactly what you need.