Life will have struggles. There is no escaping this fact. In the nearly forty years I’ve been alive I have not met one person who hasn’t gone through something emotionally altering, heart-breaking or life-changing.
If you are reading this and saying to yourself,”Well, I haven’t had anything happen that has affected me in any of these ways.” Then you are either a ten year old boy (because a ten year old girl would have already gone through at least a heartbreak or emotional devastation by this time regardless if an adult would qualify it as altering or not,) or you have learned to stuff emotions and play a role of perfection that began when the first struggle creeped up and the thought of others seeing you flounder was not an option (again due to some emotionally altering situation that became a learned behavior).
Face it. We are ALL one hot mess. 🙂
This is why we have friends. We come together in the beginning because of a common like or interest, we recognize similarities in our behaviors that sets us at ease with one another and eventually a bond of trust has been created and we begin to share with one another these struggles that when not shared, spoken and worked out logically with another like minded person can weigh us down like a cement cinder block.
I’ve had a lot of interior growth this summer, recognizing some things I’ve ‘stuffed’, times where a ‘role’ has been played even though I’ve always prided myself in being transparent, and coming to terms with acknowledging that I needed to be comfortable with myself fully (despite the hot mess I know myself to be at times).
Friendships evolve with time, expanding, deepening, tearing and repairing, sometimes dissipating and other times reigniting. One of the greatest gifts is when a new one begins because it’s almost like the next chapter in a book, you don’t know what will be revealed, what to expect and the adventure and treasure you might discover.
I thank God for blessing me with so many facets of understanding this full dynamic of friendship and the gift of watching new ones form. And as the friendships deepen with the sharing of our struggles my appreciation for each one grows.
It’s not about the quantity of friends that we have, it’s about the quality – what are we willing to share and how can we help one another grow?
This is a shout out to ALL of my friends (years past, new, old, childhood, brief, new, you know who you are)…every single one of you has left a mark in my life and I am blessed to know you.
Blessings
Shannon