I have always believed that in any relationship, whether a friendship, marriage or working relationship – if 70% of it is what you could call “good”, then you have an amazing union.
No relationship will ever be 100%.
There will always be some things about another person, no matter how well you know them – that you just don’t understand. There will be annoyances and even a few things that will drive you crazy.
But if, overall – you are learning from the person, you feel they respect you (and you respect them), you have great conversations and genuinely care about each other and support each other – you have yourself an incredible human connection.
Today – that is increasingly rare. So when we have it, we should do everything we can to keep it.
It’s not easy. Today’s fast pace and confusing state of affairs often means that connections we once had and enjoyed slowly disappear.
All it takes is for one person to forget to call another. Text messages stop. We lose track of each other. And before you know it – that person is out of our lives.
We get busy and say to ourselves “I don’t have time to hunt that person down. It was nice while it lasted.”
However – through social media, we can reconnect more easily, and lately – I have reached out to a few people from my recent and distant past only to be confronted by horrific discoveries, and on the other end of the spectrum, very pleasant surprises.
A few people, I learned, had died. Others seemed very bitter about life. One person who replied to my outreach told me he’s had it rough in the past 20 years. He seemed to resent my communication. Scratch that one off the list!
But I’ve also resurrected a couple of childhood friendships, and to my amazement, these people have become super good friends of mine today. They’re a lot nicer than I remember. (One of them used to beat me up).
When you consider how cold and mechanical life has become, with technology dominating our existence – real human relationships matter more than ever.
In the heat of the moment when tempers flare – or when we’re so busy, we don’t even have time to acknowledge others – people can be ejected from our lives quickly and easily.
Today, I’m making my best effort to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Cory Galbraith 