Support Your Supportive Friendships

Our Divine Download for May 14, 2020 is Friendship "Fairies and humans alike need friends. Now is the time to seek out those who will support and encourage you on your journey to fulfill your dreams." Many relationships have been tested and challenged of late due to the global circumstances we are all experiencing. Many people have expressed hurt and disappointment, even disillusionment over the postings and behaviors of people whom they considered friends. Here's the thing: pandemics probably don't bring out anyone's best side. If you are truly unable to show grace to those you have previously valued as friends, ask yourself why. Chances are, there is something being mirrored back to you for your evaluation. We need people. We need like minded people who love and support us. Ideally we need people who will do so without strings attached. But, the thing about friendships is that we don't take vows and pledge for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, with our friends. So it is unfair and unrealistic to hold our friendships to the same scrutiny and the same expectations that we hold our legally bound romantic partners. As we

all move forward from shelter in place orders and we all begin to heal from the trauma of this pandemic, being mindful that the true healing is just beginning and will occur in layers and stages, it's natural to want to be with our friends again. It's natural to evaluate those relationships (because let's face it, we've likely been evaluating everything else in our lives). Don't go rushing back to friendships or other relationships that weren't working for you prior to recent events. It's okay to be mindful about whom you share your energy with. It's okay to start reintegrating with people slowly. It's okay to place different values on people and experiences than you did before. It's okay to have outgrown people. It's okay if they've outgrown you. It's also okay if it takes a while (like a loooooonnnnnnggggg while) before you really know where you stand with anyone or anything again. We're all just beginning to emerge from the cocoon of a shared but uniquely isolating traumatic experience. Everyone reacts to trauma differently. Hold space for those you truly care about and honor their experience and their processing with grace, especially where it is different from your own. Different doesn't necessarily mean better or worse, it's just different uniquely theirs. Just as your style of experiencing and processing is uniquely yours. And when you think about it, those uniquenesses are probably why you're in each other's lives to begin with. Look at the truths of your friendships. Not the corona digest version of them. Look for who they truly are and decide if you want to meet them in mutual space from the truth of who you really are.