Well. I'm really not sure.
There's different levels of friendship with people. Everyone knows the 'best' friend, and people who they are acquaintances with. But all the inbetweens are so vague. And the ever shifting space of friendship between two people is a dynamic one.
In the beginning, you start off as new acquaintances. You don't know each other well, but you might have a few things in common, or hung out a few times. Enough to say hi to each other in passing.
Then there are classmate level friends. These are people who you're willing to hold a conversation with, but the only thing you have to talk about is the work, the teacher, and anything that actually pertains to the class itself. Sure you might be able to make small chat besides that, but for the most part, your relationship is defined primarily by the classwork.
Classmate and Work friends are very similar. And I'd consider them the same thing. Except maybe you're more likely to go out to a bar with work friends and get drunk enough to know each other a bit more than if you just shared a classroom.
Friends. These are people who you'll hang out with frequently or infrequently and you'll end up having shared experiences together, typically with more meaning than 'we took a class together'. More like, the kind of people you go on a trip with, or go out with on weekends. Even people who just hang out with all the time, in a lab, playing games outside or inside. These are your friends. You don't really bring up too many intimate things with them, but you know that you probably could ask for their advice if you need it.
Close friends. People who you can talk to about more private things, that won't blab it everywhere or gossip. These are people you can call good or close friends. You don't reveal everything to them, but you're comfortable bringing up hardships and seeking advice from them.
Best friends. The people you can tell almost anything to and you know that you won't be judged too harshly for it, that you'll get back their honest thoughts and oppinions on it, and they'll let you know if you're being an idiot or foolish.
I feel like as I make my way through life, slowly I'm narrowing my friends down to only close and best friends. That's not saying I don't have the other 3, I have plenty of those, but I see them so little that they're not a significant feature of my life, and I don't think about them that often. I keep in touch with my close and best friends whether they're here at school, or back in the home state. Although, I think I'd have to add some type of level above best friend. I have two friends who I know I could tell anything to and they would support me no matter what. Well, they don't know everything about me, there's another person who I consider a friend, but the kind of friend I can bring up certain things that other people would find awkward (read kinky sex related) with and talk about freely and not worry about it. Her and I used to have a sort of relationship, so we have a level of intimacy that makes me comfortable with telling her all about my bedroom behavior. Anywho, not what I wanted to talk about. The other two, I could seriously tell anything to. I don't know what I would do without them. Especially since recently I've been reconciling a lot of feelings I've had for a long time, and trying to come to terms with them. It's hard. It really is, and it's not something I'm even comfortable taking about openly on the internet, even in this tiny little corner of the internet where google page rank can hardly reach.
Its just weird how the level of friendship differs so much.
Sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by only colleages (work friends) even though I should probably consider them higher up the friend food chain.
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