It Takes Lifelong Effort for Successful Friendships - Time Out #476

Most everything that is worth anything takes lots of work, meaning a whole lot of effort!  

     Friendships are relatively easy to make, but take SO much time to nurture, especially as life's years roll on, and on, and on. 

     During our youth, time tends to stand still, and feels endless. However, that special youthful time in our life surges forward, and we become adults. By then, we develop our own world, likes, dislikes, and various human relationships. All along life's path, friends are made, but to make them into long-lasting friends, takes lots of effort on multiple fronts. 

     Personally, friends have always been super important to me. Whether I made the friends growing up in Our Town in the 1950's and 60's, or during my extensive educational years in Our State,  or in Alabama, Tennessee, or California, where I lived in each location several years. I have always cherished the friendships I have made everywhere I have called home. The friends I made in those places enriched my time there,   

I have continued my connection with my buddies by physically seeing these people, talking with them via telephone or the internet, and/or by actually writing them frequent postcards. Each time I reach out to them, I get a warm inner feeling, which becomes enhanced when my friends return contact with me at a later date.

     It is so gratifying for me to hear about a friend's life experiences, especially what has happened directly with them and/or their families. Of course, how our mutual friends are doing always enters the conversations, along with our past times together. Every "catch-up" exchange is usually filled with lots of laughter, joy, and lasting memories.

     Because of our fast-paced lives in this modern world, it is very easy to let time take its toll on personal relationships, thus allowing them to slide to our back burner. That is to say, the non-contact period, quickly turns into months, and when we blink twice, many years have past since we have seen or heard from a former friend. With concentrated effort, however, friendship-neglect does not have to happen! Please, make it a habit for you to take that necessary first contact step, rather than waiting for your friend to tap you on your shoulder.  

     This proactive approach on your part will pay giant dividends to you and your friendships! The good feelings you receive in return are priceless.