Cherish Your Friends And Friendships

Introduction

In the past, I have made mistakes and I probably still make them today. I covered much of that in this piece so I will try not to repeat myself too much.

I think one of the things that is a lot stronger in me is the desire to keep friendships, even when it sometimes may seem to cost me to observers on the outside of the relationship.

That is one of the reasons I chose this beautiful take on the Peter Gabriel song by Waylon Jennings and Sinéad O'Connor.

So What Do I Do To Keep My Friendships In A Good Place?

I will start off by saying some friendships are irretrievable when the other person acts inexcusably and doubly so when people attack and upset my friends.

Although I see myself as kind, empathic and supportive, I will not tolerate bullies and cheats especially if they hurt my friends.

The thing is I do value friendships because I feel that I gain a feed from them that inspires me and gives me a reason to create.

A friendship must contain care and concern for each other and work on a lot of give and a little take. It means being there when you are needed, and helping when you can.

Sometimes things do go wrong, but there has to always be a fix mentality and no blame mentality. I have been in friendships where things went wrong but I always knew that the friendship would be rekindled and that is an amazing feeling, but it takes two to fix things and that allows you to move forward and enjoy the good things in life.

I always have hope and love in my heart, but always take care of those close to me.

I am lucky enough not to let petty sniping bother me, but if it hurts my friends, then I will always protect them. While that gives me satisfaction I do believe it is caused by me caring for others rather than to satisfy my ego.

Friendship can help us build amazing things, it gives me the confidence to write and publish on Vocal, to go and explore things and to find things to share with those close to me.

The current Vocal "Moment of Silence" challenge to me feels directed toward doleful poetry but my most recent piece, I believe, is very positive.

I do like all my writing to have a feel-good factor and be uplifting for the reader. I know I do some horror and dystopian work, but although I may try and shock the user, I do not want them to come away depressed.

I am always there if friends have problems and find that they are there for me. As well as inspiration, they also provide an emotional safety net if things are not going great for me.

Knowing that someone cares is extremely beneficial to your mental health, well it is to mine.

This is one of the amazing benefits of Vocal, the number of friends I have made around the world. We play word games, administer Facebook Groups and read and comment on each other's stories, as well as encourage each other. My only sadness is that we can't teleport yet as I would love to sare coffee and cake with so many of my friends.

Conclusion

So look after your friends and friendships. Put as much effort as you can into them but always put yourself first, because if you are not 100% then you cannot be there for others.

These friendships can blossom, and in turn, make life very enjoyable.

Mine is good, I hope yours is too.

Thank you so much for reading, my friends.