Comm - Chapter 9

Friends

As in my post about Chapter 8, you can nearly mirror the progression of friendship with the progression of a lover, without the intimacy. Even the breakup is very similar, no communication, less interaction and then just dissolving the relationship.

It appears to me that more and more people are not willing to work on a relationship, whether an intimate or a friendship. Why is that? Doesn’t it seem that more people are becoming loners, willing to do things on their own than ever before? Or is it just my perception of my own circle of friends?

Another observation is the need of a friend. There is an innate sociological need to have friends outside the circle of your immediate family. What void do these friends fill? What is it that makes the friends nearly more important, at times, than family?

Is it the ‘tribe’ affect?

We seem to need close relationships in all aspects of our lives; family, friends, associates, groups, etc.

Feelings

Another hot topic when it comes to relationships. Expressing or suppressing, which do you exhibit in a particular relationship? Some folks say that they are emotional around their family while others suppress. We will suppress our emotions at work most of the time, which is where some of us build up a lot of stress! Then there are those that are emotional all the time and others that will never show emotion. I believe that both of these are unbalanced personalities.

What do you think?