Assigning A Type

Are you a type?  More specifically, are you a type of friend?

Are you The Sycophant?  The Downer? The Voice of Reason?  The Lazy? The Planner?  The Fair-weather? The Solid?  The Clueless? The Joker? The Cerebral?  The Flake? The Party?

Depending on your mood and what’s needed at any given time, we draw on certain friends to get us through.  Nothing wrong with this, really.  Long hard day at work?  Call The Party!  Need to bounce some life in the balance ideas off someone?  Hello Solid!  If you’re really lucky though, your bestest friends are all of these friends rolled into one, yes, even the not so great parts, and roll with whatever punch you need.  The not so great parts aren’t too bad because it’s the great parts you focus on.  Friends, that’s what they do.

The problem, though, is when you become primarily classed as only one type of friend.  The Joker friend who is really fun but can’t have a serious conversation to save their life.  Or The Downer, who is just so damn glass half empty and negative about everything it’s a wonder they can even celebrate Christmas.  I have issues with The Flakes because your friends shouldn’t need constant reminding that you actually exist.  Either way, from the Joker to the Downer to the Flake, there’s no balance.  I realize my examples are a bit extreme – we all have aspects of our personality that manifest themselves for better or worse at any given time during any given day – but when you’re no longer capable of rolling and casting a wider view, it does become a problem. 

Fixing the problem isn’t all that hard – your bestest friends will always cut you the necessary slack and let you be bummed out (for a time) or ridiculously silly (for a time) or OCD (for a time) or whatever you need (for a time) at any given time – and we have to do this too.  It’s all about listening and being thoughtful and present for those we care about, and those that care about us.  So maybe I’ve talked myself around this completely - it’s not about types at all, but about listening and being there and being thoughtful as a friend for your friends.  Yes, this is better.  We can all be a better type of friend like this.