If you all didn't know, I have started back to practicum for Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC) www.chacmv.org
I've been running these "Teen Talk" groups for middle school girls. Today we were talking about what makes a good friend and why it's important to stay away from 'false friends' and develop relationships with 'true friends.'
This little girl says to me, "a true friend is someone who respects you and someone who values you. They don't take advantage of you, and they make your life better, not worse."
The great thing about kids is that they speak the truth so plainly and see it without all the complications.
Anyway, a situation arose today where I was upset about what some "friends" had done, and I realized that these people are 'false friends' - they detract from my happiness, don't respect me or my time or ideas, and they certainly don't value what I have to offer.
So from now on, I'm going to take a cue from my therapist self and act on what I counsel others to do. I'm going to only surround myself with people who respect and value me and if they don't improve my life, they at least won't detract from my happiness. I think I try to treat all of my friends this way, but I also plan to be more cognizant of being a 'true friend' to everyone. Mostly, I want to make sure I am always contributing to people's happiness rather than detracting from it. That means I have 2 things I know for a fact I need to work on - I need to complain less and I need to gossip less.
The goal is to create a bubble of positivity around me and allow that to rub off on others.
No comments:
Post a Comment