Growth Spurts in Life... Part 1 - Friends

Growth spurts can be pretty interesting.  Watching my niece and nephew at least weekly, has amazed me at the changes that occur in the time between seeing them.  During these spurts, they may be tired and extra hungry.  I've been thinking about how we, as adults, still have growth spurts.  While they aren't physical, they are vital to our health.
I've been experiencing this intensely this year.  I think we all experience it to some degree throughout our lives, but one must acknowledge their experience to benefit fully and be open for what is to come.  At the beginning of this year, I embraced this and am focused on how these growth spurts will positively stretch me.  Stretching is definitely what it has done.
When you open yourself to growth spurts, be prepared for the positives and the pains, just like in physical growth.  How you respond to these effects determines the quality of your growth and the opportunities that may come.  I have been keeping this in mind because believe me, these spurts definitely have growing pains.
One of the most challenging aspects of my growth spurts has been valuing my time and energy with friends.  This includes making sure that I have time for my friends and am a good friend to each of them.  Sometimes life's hectic-ness and work can become priority when in the end, the people in your life are what matter.  This growth also has another side.  I have been learning to value myself and draw lines with those who don't have that same value for me.  I have to say that has been the hardest part!  You know Southern politeness requires you to smile and just go with the flow.  That isn't alright if you're continually feeling pain and less of yourself because of that friendship.  Of course, that friendship has highlights and every relationship has ups and down.  You have to listen to yourself and be honest with that person and most importantly, yourself.  I've been doing this, and it has been anything but easy.  I've had to cut what I believed to be a friend, learning she was not the person I thought was my friend.  While I battled myself in that, I can see what I learned from that friendship and feel free with that weight off of me.  I have no ill will and wish her the best.  There have been other friends that I've had discussions with about their actions and what they mean to our friendships.  This honesty has improved those friendships to degrees that I never imagined possible.
Valuing one's self can be a challenge to people with or without disabilities, women or men and of any ethnicity.  As a woman and a person with a disability, history has taught me to be meek and and appreciate any friend you can get, no matter their actions.  History must be changed for the next generations.  That relies on us, now!  I have been blessed with more friends and more love than I can describe.  I have friends that I've been friends with for 20 years and those I met this year.  Everyone does not have that, I know, and I'm not taking it for granted.  I have to know that my friendship has a value to my friends, though.  I must acknowledge and draw the lines for myself and those looking to me for guidance. History will not be changed, if we don't start now!
This just one aspect of my life that has been improved in my recent growth spurts.  I plan to cover the others in my next few posts, so stay tuned!  Don't forget to click the follow button on the left or subscribe by email!