How many people do you think you interact with in a year? If you just interact with one new person each day, it adds up to 365 new people every year. Over the course of your life, you’ll end up interacting with thousands of people. A handful might stay as close friends and others might become faint memories. But as you go through life, one of the most important skills is to be able to discern who is your friend and who is not.
Have you ever had someone close to you, who you completely trusted betray you? Or maybe you got to know a new work colleague and helped them find their footing, only to have them take the promotion you had been working for. Maybe you befriended the new girl in town, who started spreading rumors about you.
These situations sound terrible, but they aren’t uncommon. What hurts the most, though, is when the person who betrayed you was someone you trusted. Sometimes we get close to people, but they just want something from us.
Be Careful Who You Trust
Not everyone is trustworthy. If you meet someone new, you don’t know what their intentions are. In fact, this can even be the case with someone you have known for years. Sometimes people change or just aren’t the same as what you thought them to be. So, it is important to identify who you can trust with certainty.
Trusting the right people is not just about your physical safety, but your emotional and mental one, too.
Sometimes when you get close to someone, you feel comfortable enough to share your sorrows and the weight of your burdens. You might share some deep personal truths or your vulnerabilities. But when this person shares this intimate information with someone else, it can feel devastating.
Don’t Show Your Weakness
Like this quote says, it is better to have a thousand enemies that are outside your house than a single one who is inside it. The enemy is inside it knows you well and your vulnerabilities and weaknesses. For the enemies on the outside, they don’t have as much to weaponize against you because they simply aren’t close enough to you.
Quality Over Quantity
The number of your friendships does not matter. Rather, it’s the quality of that friendship that counts. If you have one trustworthy friend who has your back no matter what, you are richer than most people. So be okay with not having a bunch of friends. Be okay not being popular or having multiple invitations on a weekend. I know I would rather have one friend who I could trust with my life, than ten who I don’t trust as much.
Live with Your Heart
As you build relationships and friends, the key is to live with your heart. Follow your intuition and be compassionate with yourself. Sometimes, maybe your heart tells you to take a risk and trust. If you do accidentally befriend an ‘enemy’, don’t judge yourself or criticize yourself for not being smart enough or not seeing it before. Don’t blame yourself. Learn your lesson and focus on strengthening the real friendships you do have.
