Prioritizing friendships
In a fast pace world of coming and going, we all have many things to do, and we never seem to have the time and energy to do them all. Prioritizing is a way to solve that frustrating problem, especially when it comes to friends. Juggling different friendships can be frustrating at times, but it doesn't have to be. In prioritizing friendships, you will see that you will have more time and you won't feel as drained.
Throughout life everyone forms new kinds of relationships with others. Peer groups will expand and evolve through time. Some of these friendships will be deeper and more fulfilling than others. New relationships will be formed and the old relationships will drastically change over time. Some of your old friends will be stuck in the same place as when you met and you may no longer have things in common. Some may be so involved in their new lives that they may have less time to socialize. So how do you handle prioritizing all these friendships?
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Decide which friendships are most worthy of your time and effort.
You may have many friends in your life, and you are finding it hard to manage them all. You will need to decide which ones are most important to take up your time. You may have some dear close friends that would do anything for you no matter what you may do. They are there for you regardless of the circumstances and want the best for you. These are great friends to spend your quality time with.
Then again, you may have those friends that just call you because they want or need something. They are the ones that don't really put an equal effort into the friendship. You are friends because you met at an important time in your life, but now you may have little in common. These may not be ideal friends to continue putting at the top of your priority list.
You will likely find that some friendships will completely disappear, some will change to acquaintances, and some will become even closer and more important than they were in the past. Look at those friends and friendships that mean the most to you. Who puts in the most effort and time and energy? This may be a good way to decide who you should spend more time with.
How do I prioritize new friendships?
Remember, you should make room for the new people in your life and this will require you to rearrange the old friendships. Changing your friendships is a normal part of growing up and even though it can be hard to go through, everyone experiences it. Once you have decided where to put the most time and effort into from both your old and new worlds, the next step is bringing these people together.
It may be hard at first to include new friends into your world of old friends. Your old friendships have a history to them that have bonded you together. Your new friendships are built on the excitement of new things and a new phase of life. It is possible to take both worlds and bring them together as one. Plus, spending time with both sets of friends at once can free up other time later.
Make sure however you decide to prioritize your friendships, to still be the great friend that you are. If you prioritize correctly, you won't cause any hurt or upset feelings. Remember your friends are important people to have in your life, just because you prioritize them, doesn't mean you still don't care about them. You will see that once you take the time to prioritize your life, especially your friendships, that you will be happier and find that you have more time on your hands for yourself.
