I
need to talk to you about something a lot of people don't talk about:
friendship.
Some
people assume that we won't ever have friends. Or, that we will know
the “rules” for friendship if we have friends. The first
assumption is wrong. The second assumption is sometimes wrong. I know
no one explained the “rules” for friendship to me.
People
will like you. People will care about you. Sometimes, these people
will leave. I have been learning this the hard way. No one told me
the “rules.” No one told me that friendships don't often last
forever. I am sometimes in a great deal of hurt. This is
especially after leaving college. Friends headed off to
different parts of the country or even the world. I also moved to a
different city for a job.
Sometimes,
people move on. This includes these days,
when people might
have to move more and more for jobs. You might move and find it hard
to keep in touch. People might also move for college, or just for
other reasons. It doesn't mean they never liked you. Sometimes you
will feel used. But that is how a lot of friendships will work, and
it doesn't mean they didn't enjoy being friends. A lot of times, both
people understand that many friendships are not a forever thing. But
people might not have told you that. This is not your fault. It does
not make you bad.
Sometimes
you might feel close to a person, but they don't feel as close to
you. It doesn't mean they don't like you. It will hurt. Figuring that
stuff out is hard. It might change how you hang out with them,
if you figure it out. It might change as you try to
learn what things makes them uncomfortable because they aren't as
close.
For
example, I would devote myself to people who weren't as close to me.
I would always remember their birthdays and sometimes bring them
things. I would feel hurt when they didn't remember my birthday,
though I didn't expect gifts. But they never expected me to remember
theirs in the first place. And it often made them uncomfortable
when I gave them things.
Sometimes,
friendships
can
last a long time. They
aren't
always short-term.
It can be hard to
tell which ones will, and which ones won't. Try
to
see how much work
they want to put in to keep the friendship
going after
it
gets harder
to
be friends
for
whatever
reason,
including distance. If they don't want to put in a lot of work,
then it might have been a short
term
one. This is a generalization.
It doesn't apply to all situations.
Friends
won't always just drift
away. Sometimes friends
will hurt
you and you leave. Or
you
just don't get along after
a
while. Or
you
make a mistake and hurt
them. That will happen. We are
all people. It doesn't make you evil. It will hurt
when these things happen. Having friends
is still worth
it.
I
didn't have a close friend
from
the time I was 12 to 18 and a half. I had a loose, vague collection
of friendly
people, but that was all. Fellow
students
looked at me a
lot like
I needed to get off the planet. But at some point, people will like
you, and people will care.
It might take a while, like it did for
me.
People
will like you and people will care.
A lot of times they'll leave and occasionally they won't. It will
hurt
sometimes.
Having
friends
is still worth
it.
I have saved this to show to my son when he is old enough to understand...I wish someone had told me all this a long time ago. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI have saved this to show to my son when he is old enough to understand...I wish someone had told me all this a long time ago. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are going to share this, and I'm sorry no one told you.
DeletePeople still look at me like I need to get off the planet in college. :( Not as bad as in high school, but still bad. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteMy one suggestion is to not try to act as normal as possible to fit in - that will probably not work and will just make you tired. Well, technically, the other suggestion is - are there any other disabled students at your college that you know? Do you think they might be interested in forming a student group, maybe with a social support aspect? Even if you don't know any other disabled students, perhaps disability services could email their list serv to gauge interest?
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