Such a cliche but still believed by a multitude of people at the present time. In this article, I am going to talk about the birds that I flock with and let's see what kind of person am I.
The REVERED
Today, I met with with two of my revered friend. The photo above is the fruity yogurt we ate. In simple terms, they are the church goers and the spiritual ones. We usually meet once a month especially when the lockdowns loosened a bit. We always find time to go to a cafe and have long chats. These friends of mine are the ones I grew up with going to to church and attending the youth ministry. Since we grew up in the church together, our topics when we meet usually revolve around inspirational experiences, Bible verses, life lessons and a lot more wholesome things.
It is in this group when I could open up my spirituality and they too. We usually pour out our sentiments in life to be consoled, encouraged and prayed on later. This is such a nice group. I feel so holy when I meet them. Also, I try my best to be even after meeting them. It is like a reinforcement group of all the things I listen to during Sunday services. This circle of friends is not always holy though as we also have the tendency to criticize and talk about other people but the good thing is we as much as possible do rebuke ourselves and each other not to judge other people.
This group is something like my moral compass.
The MENTORS
The second group are the educators. At work, I was able to make friends and they are the ones under this group. Since this global health crisis, learning has been done remotely so we do not meet everyday like we used to. Still, we meet out once in a while. The other day, I had the chance to have lunch with them.
In this group, we usually talk about academic matters and compare a lot of things. We compare, experiences with students, our bosses, the parents of our students and even our work places because we come from different institutions although we have a common denominator which is where I work now and some of them used to work to.
It is also in this group when rants mostly about work and anything surrounding it are aired out. It is a real outlet for each one of us. We may not be able to solve our predicaments but at least we are able to express ourselves and feel a bit better after.
After all, although we come from different institutions, we have somewhat common or identical issues. We clamor about our students who seem not interested in their academics and complain for a low or failing grade after. We clamor about parents who seem to know their children as saints but are a pain in the ass in reality. We mostly clamor about our institutions and those who head them who seem not to know what is going on with their teachers. They actually add more to the stress.
Despite all the clamors, we end up feeling better ready to show a facade again the next working day. Anyway, we are teachers and we ought to be strong for our students, our families and ourselves.
The FRENEMIES
Who could they be? I tried to think a lot on who could be my other group of friends but I guess that as I aged, I settled myself to lesser groups of friends. This third and final group then are my family--husband, son and 2 daughters.
My husband and children are my best friends but my enemies at the same time. Staying at home is not really much of a choice these days. As such, most of us are confined with our families at home. I think the long stay at home is causing restlessness to members. My case is no different.
Most days, I am happy that I get to have time to be with my kids and the husband. I can have quality with them by cleaning together, eating together and even learning together.
On the other hand, we also find ourselves stressing each other. Although I am a teacher by profession, I realized that I haven't really developed a significant amount of patience towards children--my children.
I also found my husband so annoying and I think he feels the same way too. I don't know but I don't mean to be annoying but I am and so with them. It is highly unlikely that they annoy me out of intention but I am really annoyed by them. hahaha
Despite all, they are the love of my life and no annoyance can ever surpass that.
CONCLUSION
When I was younger, I had a lot of more groups. I even have the exact opposite of the revered. I want to call them the party-goers. They literally are party-goers and they are extremely fond of drinking alcohol, smoking. I was a hard drinker then. I think I outgrew it.
When I got married, I totally turned away from such group. They are still my friends and they will always be but we don't go out anymore like the old days. We see each other and we talk a lot but no more drinking and others. Perhaps, we all outgrew those things or maybe we reached our saturation if there is such a thing.
I also had nerdy friends. I love this group too because I was able to enjoy the solitude of the library. They read a lot and I do too a little. Most of the time we spend at the library is actually a siesta (nap time) for me. I really doze off. On the bright side, I was able to write my thesis thanks to these people.
Now, as I draw nearer to the beginning of life ("Life begins at 40"), I realized that I have a very limited circle of friends. I believe that there is nothing wrong with that. I think I merely learned to see the value of the small.
Now, what kind of person am I? Is it because of the birds I flock with? Yes but no!
No because everything about me is all because of me and the decisions I made for myself. They influenced me perhaps but I made the move. It was I who made the choice. They never did the choice for me.
Yes because with what I am today, I am forever grateful to them!
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The righteous choose their friends carefully,
but the way of the wicked leads them astray. -- Proverbs 12:26
I really thought you were one of my friends. I had to ask her many times in order to confirm she is not you. Anyway, I enjoyed reading your article!