What About Your Friends?

On this date 9 years ago, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was killed in a car accident. For those of you that may not know, she was one third of the R&B group TLC. She co-wrote one of my favorite songs from that group caled "What About Your Friends". As I think back to the lyrics of this song in particular, it makes me realize that no matter who you are friends play a big part in whether you are happy or not. Therefore, choosing the right friends to be in your life is something that should not be taken lightly.

If you want to be happy, please make sure that you look at the character of the people that you choose to be in your life. Make sure you avoid negative people. Negative people are usually close minded and see the glass as half empty. This will soon affect your view on life and you will start to become a negative person too. We all know someone like this. This is the person that is hardly ever happy about anything. If they are happy, it is usually because someone else is miserable. People that rejoice in the downfall of another human being are not real "friends" to anyone but themselves. Another group of people you need to avoid are people that try to size you up, for example, like what type of car you drive or neighborhood you live in. A real friendship is not based on comparisons of what each other has or does not have. These are materialistic minded people that are more concerned with things and not people. These are often times, the ones that brag about what they have and how much money they make. In other words, in their minds, they are better than you. If you have friends that make you feel uncomfortable in any way then drop them like a bad habit.

Who do you want to be your friend? This is your choice. Personally, I surround myself with a small group of people that I call my friends. I have 3 people in my life that I would call my best friends and 5 that I would call friends and that is it. I don't need anymore friends in my life because my old ones are doing just fine. My friends and I do not speak everyday but if we are going through something we know we can pick up the phone and talk it out 24/7. There is peace of mind knowing that you have people in your life that will not ask questions but will be there if you called and said you needed them. What is even better is when they are there for you when you don't call and whatever happens is between you and them. If required, you will take whatever situation you had to deal with and take it to the grave as will they. When your life is flipped upside down it is your real friends that will make everything right again in your world. Period.

As adults we have the luxury of being able to choose who will be in our lives and who will not. It is much easier not to ever allow someone to be in your life from the beginning instead of ending a friendship later on down the road after it has taken a toll on your mentality. I will wrap up this post with my favorite lyrics from the song "What About Your Friends", think about the people in your life that you call friend as you read the lyrics. How do they measure up? How do you measure up as a friend? Remember you must be a friend in order to have a friend..

"Every now and then I get a little easy
I let a lot of people depend on me
I never thought they would ever deceive me
Don't you know when times got rough I was standing on my own"

"I'll never let another get that close to me
You see I've grown a lot smarter now
Sometimes you have to choose and then you'll see
If your friend is true then they'll be there with you through the thick and thin"

"What about your friends?
Will they stand their ground? Will they let you down again?
What about your friends?
Are they gonna be low down? Will they ever be around?
Or will they turn their backs on you?"