Ahhh relationships...everybody has them. Even before birth, babies develop a relationship with their mother. And even after death, people still carry on relationships with loved ones long gone. You can even have a relationship with a pet...or in some instances, your mobile device!
I was thinking the other day that adult relationships are the most complicated.
When you're a kid, you don't really think about the other person - it's so me-centric. Everything revolves around me. My toys. My colour pencils. My Frozen birthday party. I know this because my threenager reminds me of this every single minute of her time awake. Me me me me me! And that's still a relationship, albeit a one-sided one.
And then you grow up a little and go to school. Relationships are still pretty easy - there is a shared purpose (get your homework done by hook or by crook, make jokes about that teacher who tries to be cool but is failing miserably, and try to keep up with the latest fads in music or clothes or books or games or whatever genre the cool kids are getting into and spreading. Oh, and also trying to not get caught skipping a class or two or school altogether).
Then it's time for university. Assignments. Late nights. Work experience. Road trips. Exams. Uni parties. Preparing for graduation and what comes next. Still, relationships are pretty easy. You choose who you hang out with, who you buddy up with to study and who you end up sharing accommodation with (that is, unless you end up on campus housing). Life's still pretty good.
And THEN you get out into the big, bad world. And that's where things start to fall apart.
You have work relationships but when is it crossing the line between work and friendship?
How does it look like if you hang out with work mates, especially bosses? Trying to kiss ass? Trying to score brownie points?
How do you build relationships outside of work? Sometimes, work is so all-consuming that there's no time for anything else. Family. Friends. Anything remotely close to a social life.
And do you want to build a long term relationship with people you work with every day of the week when sometimes, all they're there for is to do their job to get paid and nothing more?
All this is happening while the relationships that you've built before with your school friends and uni mates slowly start to fall by the wayside. Less and less time to stay in touch. Less and less time to hang out. Less and less time to cultivate the seeds sown so long ago...and so, less and less flowers and fruit come to bear.
And one day, the plant is bare.
How now brown cow?
