Who Is In Your Circle?

Who is in your Circle?

We can always learn something!

Some of you may know who Nipsey Hussle was. I did not until his death. Ironically, several months ago as I was looking for quotes on inspiration his quote came up which in my opinion is profound and speaks to my own experience. “If you look at the people in your circle and you do not get inspired, then you don’t have a circle you have a cage. WOW!!! This is so true. To see my circle please visit my latest YouTube channel video “Who’s in your circle?” https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwEzKfHUfk0F2UDaruFjViw?view_as=subscriber

The Circle

A circle is round and has no end but let us take a deeper look at what it means to be and have friends.

Lessons learned in life and through maturity.

In my life, I have tried and true friends, acquaintances, and social media acquaintances with whom I have various levels of engagement.

I have a couple of friends that I have known since 1st/2nd grade. They know me and accept me for who I am, and I do the same for them. I am not the author of the quote found on google “Everyone has a friend during each stage of life. But only lucky ones have the same friend in all stages of life. I am extremely lucky and grateful!

I am blessed to have a circle of friends who support and challenge me to be the absolute best I can be. In my experience, a good circle includes those with various roles.

For example, there are times when life will knock us to our knees and curl us up in the fetal position. In our circle,

we have friends that will hold and support us, those that will remind us of the good inside of us and those that will do all of that and then encourage us to get up/go through/get moving.

I am not the author of this quote found on google “Celebrate those who give you the courage to be a better version of you; friends who would tell you the truth even when a lie would have been easier they are the best!”

Roles in the circle

I have learned to appreciate the different roles my friends have in my circle and encourage you to do the same.

The gift is to appreciate each role without disappointment or anger at their responses. For example,

everyone in our circle is not a mirror reflection of us. Perhaps we like to talk about our problems sometimes in repetition. On the other hand, perhaps we have a friend who goes on radio silence to work through their issues. It does not mean they do not value or trust us as a friend, it is simply their way of coping. The beauty of the friendship is celebrating with them how they worked through the issue and came out on the other side if/when they do decide to share.

Now let us talk about acquaintances on and off social media. With the advent of social media, we can have various levels of engagements with acquaintances which is often confused with friendship. At one point I even created a FB page called from Facebook to Face 2 Face to try to bridge a gap for me.

Net/Net

The reality is that sometimes people come into our lives for different reasons and for different seasons. The tricky part is to allow the relationship to take its natural course whether that of an acquaintance or friends. The goal is to treasure the relationship without definitions or labels and to remain authentic and kind in how we navigate the journey.