keep the people I care about close to me

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Sent a note to my BFF in Cali.

Not be afraid to become involved in my friends’ lives (and thus to claim some responsibility and commit work and love to their activities). I want to help those close to me become happy and great.

One of my old friends contacted me today. She’s one of the most important people I knew in high school (although she was my friend even in elementary school), almost single-handedly defining an era.

I’ve had this urge lately to gather my flocks—I mean, to call together all my old friends, re-connect with everyone I knew. (Alongside this is the slightly lesser desire to record and archive everything; I’ve been re-reading books I’ve forgotten, watching movies that didn’t register the first time.) I’m seriously thinking there’s a second beginning/ rebirth coming on—a new door opening, a new self-understanding upon which my life will be re-defined.

It took me 10 years to realize that the real friends I had growing up, I had left behind and that the people I thought were my friends now weren’t. After moving back to my home town and reconnecting with my old friends, I realized, friends for life are a wonderful thing to have.

Be more empathetic and more understanding of my friends, feel more comfortable being close to people (it’s complicated), spend more time and keep in closer touch with people I care about.

Very slowly getting better at this one. With especial regard to people I care about, I tend to be reclusive and dislike exposing myself out of shame. I also fear the excessive influence others will have on me if I really get in, and the vulnerability involved in friendship. But, as my ego boundaries become more solid (i.e., I won’t be absorbed by another) and I spend some time away in which I can work on myself without so many shame-inducing elements, I find myself spending time with my family more comfortably, calling upon more old friends more, and slowly getting up to a point where I can welcome even the greatest and most kindered of spirits.

Okay, this is proving to be harder than expected. The distance thing really affects people.. whether they like it or not. The simple lack of physical contact sets people aside, no matter how strong their bond is.

I’m trying to defy that. We all are.

The friends I call actual friends now are awesome – I love them so much & I don’t want to lose them.

the same thing as

Keep in closer contact with friends (regularly)

so, once again – why double-up on a goal that means the same thing. So, I am keeping my goal of “Keep in closer contact with friends (regularly)” and taking this one off as a ‘duplicate’

This also falls into my goal of “Simplify”