It is human nature to draw into smaller
circles of people; mostly these groupings are done from some form of
commonality as it is easily leveraged to suggest an existing bond without any
need of prior engagement. This can happen horizontally across a wide spectrum
of subcultures in isolated areas in your life or as a vertical filter that
narrows the same group of people repeatedly into a much more intimate group.
What these common aspects are is unimportant.
Whether it is family, politics, gender, race, sport, etc. it is all just a
manifestation of our attempt to satisfy our need for acceptance. If you take
away one, it will be replaced by another. The connections you make however are extremely important. Be aware of the social stigma around the labels associated with you. Not only do they influence each other but they also provide a baseline for others to form opinions about you.
We hunger for companionship. It’s a void
that exist from birth. We view our relationships as a means to validate our
existence and in many cases they play a key role both as a motivation to live
and in the quality of life. The urge for companionship is as primal as hunger
and forms part of our survival instinct.
As a side note: I think that the deeper
our connections are with others the fewer people we need in our lives to fill this need and the less complex it is
to sustain these connections. This can also leave us more vulnerable and
isolated, bringing us to the alternative of having many connections that are
more superficial but that satisfy the same need.
The irony is that the deeper a
relationship grows the less important these labels tend to become. We are an
extremely adaptable species with amazing capabilities once when we commit to
something. The biggest hurdle in networking is to nurture an almost invisible
spark into something tangible and ultimately motivation to invest ourselves in
an uncertain outcome. These circles contribute by providing us with ground
zero, a platform to explore new connections.
Do not blindly go through life's motions
without understanding the
underlying need that drives us to it.
We need to know
the rules before we can break them. We are either a chess player that
understands the opportunities and the restrictions of the board or we are the
pieces that are moved around by others ignorantly thinking that we are in full
control of our lives.
So true! Ultimately the quality of the relationships that we form, and the people we choose to form these relationships with, are the ones that eventually determine our interpretations and expectations of life... I am of the opinion that our relationships with others is one of the single biggest influences in life that allows one to make a success of their own life.
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