Relationships

Have you ever taken a look around you and realized just how difficult relationships are? I'm not even talking about a relationship in the "love" sort of way where a person has a partner that they care for inexplicably; no, I'm talking about your day to day relationships. Everyone has them whether they want to or not. Relationships are everywhere, with your boss, your coworkers, your classmates, your neighbors, your friends, your family, and yes, lovers, too. It's in all these relationships that I'm talking about. They're just so difficult!!

Relationship Number One: Family

Face it, it's difficult. We all know that. It starts from the time that we are conceived. Really, there's nothing more basic then our relationship with family. Family is difficult. Why? You can't get rid of them (technically you can but please don't fight me on this one). Family is always there. You are related by blood, so you can't sever yourself from them.

Parents are an excellent example. Dealing with them is trying, to say the least. Trust me, I know. I've spent seventeen years of life living in their house with them. I see them almost every day. Usually we get along great, but as with everyone, there are times where we are quite hostile towards one another. The thing with parents is that you have to find a balance in the middle in order to deal with them. You have to give and they have to give. But then again, isn't that true in any relationship? We all have to give if we want the relationship to remain healthy.

Extended family can be a pain in the ass. Let's face it, we've probably all got at least one relative that we think of in a negative light. We try not to be with them too much and when we are, it's never a pleasant experience. Usually we don't want that relative to know what we really think, though, so we pretend as if we all love each other. Oi. (Honesty would be nice but then again, we sort of don't want to hurt other's feelings so we spare them the truth they don't need to know. We disgust me, but I know I'm the same so I can't go on for too long on that.)

Let's face it: family is the one relationship web that will always exist. Sure, it changes, some people leave, some people join, but most everyone stays put. Even if we try to ignore our family, the family still knows we exist and we still know that the family exists. If you saw another family member randomly one day there's still the relationship between you. Granted, I never said anything about it being positive, but it doesn't change the fact that it still exists. Family is the one relationship you can't erase. I'd say this makes a pretty difficult relationship to maintain, wouldn't you agree?

Relationship Number Two: Friends

Friendship.

Yes, friendship.

So freakin' difficult it's disgusting. Why? Well, we aren't born with friends. We have to make them. You meet people, you interact with them, and if you like them, you usually try to stay around them. This is how friendship begins. Still, it's not as easy as that. We all understand the difficulty of making friends. Only thing is, making friends is the easy part. I know, it's not easy, but when you compare it to the next thing, it really is.

What's harder than making friends? Keeping them. Yup. Keeping your friends is harder than making them. Believe me, that's the truth. Why is it harder? Simple. If you don't keep up with the relationship, keep giving to it, you lose it. Sucks, I know, but that's the cold, hard, vicious, brutal truth of the matter. Let's say you have a best friend that you ignore for two months. When you see them again, it's not going to be the same. That friend may be resentful, or hurt. You probably lost that friend.

What's so obnoxious, though, is that friends are the people that we take advantage of the most. We always assume that are friends are still going to be our friends the next day. We always assume that we don't need to worry about our friends because hell, they're our friend. They wouldn't just leave us. At least, that's what we assume.

But remember when you're on the other side. You're the friend who's being forgotten. It sucks, right? Trust me, I know. If you haven't been there, try to picture it. Not the greatest, and when the friend comes running back to you it only pisses you off. So yeah, friendships are difficult. But they aren't the hardest.

Relationship Number Three: Significant Others

We all understand this one; it doesn't need explaining on the difficulties. So we will go with my issues right now. I really like this guy. I mean really like this guy. He's been my friend for the past four years and he's pretty awesome. He makes me laugh, makes me feel better when I'm down, and he's always interesting to talk to. Problem: He's staying in Albuquerque and I am moving to Portales in two weeks, meaning that we can't be together. It sucks because I feel like he's leading me on and that he likes me back but we can't do crap about it because I'm moving. It sucks. I have no idea what to do. I've only had two boyfriends in my life, and so I have limited experience in this field. If you have any ideas or any knowledge in this region that you want to share, go for it. I'm dying to know =]