Friends

After deliberating with myself some of the sources of stress which I experience, the one I focused on most was that about social stress.  I find it harder to find the correct balance in maintaining relationships then it did before.  The core of it, I think, is that I'm trying to maintain too many relationships at too high of a level.

Now, this level I'm talking about is the position of a friendship on a general spectrum, from acquaintance to very close friends.  On which, I have about 4 main points of reference.

1.) The close friends.  These are the people I'm constantly in contact with.  I'm also making sure that I visit with them every once in awhile.  They are the ones I'll be going to first if I need someone to talk to.

2.) Good friends.  These are the people I'm in contact with occasionally, and after a week or two, I'm going to make sure that I've at least said hi.  I'll visit these people less often, but they are the people I won't hesitate to interact with if given a chance.

3.) Friends with deep ties, that our relationship has died down a bit.  A bit of an odd category, but this one is for the people who used to be in categories 1 and 2, but for now, I'm not really talking with.

4.) Acquaintances.  These are the relationships that I want to keep acknowledged, but that both parties are usually not engaging in any conversations, unless we can be assistance to the other.  I'd still be happy to help these people if they ever called on me.


The biggest realization was keeping people in too high of a category.  This was requiring quite a bit of energy to keep up so many relationships.

So, I am going to work on finding the balance for each person.  Some people may wnat to be on a higher or lower level, and I'll have to balance that as well.  It will be dependent on the interactions between each other, and I'll be occasionally evaluating them.

This is all in an effort to reduce my social stress, and to begin identifying ways that I can give all of my friends more quality time and attention.