The Friend Series: Friends Get Level oooo!

Hello Lovelies! How have you been? I miss y'all, hope you missed me too? We are starting "The Friends Series! Yippee! I hope you are as excited as I am. Let's get into it.

How well do you know me?, you should know that my best TV series is FRIENDS! (and I am not sorry about it). As an only child, I have always taken my friends very very personal, once I identify that you are a friend forget it, it is for life. So starting this is more exciting for me as it will be educative for everyone of us. 

On this post we are starting with the different levels of friendship, I heard about the different levels of friendship in my singles fellowship (yeah judge me, I am one of those people) and it really opened my mind to acknowledge that not all the people in my life that I had called friends were worth that exalted position, most of them were just acquaintances and colleagues. Do you call everybody your friend? even though deep down you know this person wouldn't reciprocate the friendly services you render them? I am here to help you compartmentalize the people in your life so as "tag them right". So here goes:

As far as we could tell, there are 6 primary relationships you can have with a person, though they can progress and regress as you will figure out while reading this:

1. A total stranger:

You have maybe seen this person on your street, or maybe you catch the same BRT bus once or twice and have had a short conversation, and this is the extent of your experience with this person.

2. A colleague:

This can be someone you work with or go to school with. You know their name, maybe you’ve even worked with them on a project before or been to the same party, but that’s about it.

3. An acquaintance:

You know this person and you’ve spent a decent amount of time with them. You’d rarely go out of your way to hang out with them but you have no problem if they just happen to be invited too. This is the most liberal group because you don’t actually have to like these people but anyone that you’ve gotten to know well enough will fall into it at some point. Some will never leave it, some will move ahead, and some will go back and forth forever.  

4. A friendship:

These are the people that you know reasonably well, and you actively enjoy spending time with them. Sometimes they might annoy you, and you probably wouldn’t sacrifice yourself to save them in the event of a typical Lagos traffic, but you’d still totally go see a movie with them on Friday night or take care of them when they stuff themselves with too many jollof rice and water. Usually, these set of people are your Friends' Friends that you hang out with but don’t put a lot of effort into seeing if they aren’t around.

5. A close friend:

The same as No. 4, but more-so. What is the difference between a “4” and a “5” is really in the eye of the beholder and very often the differences are so subtle that they meld into one group. For me, however, there are two distinct differences. The first is that I actually care about the feelings and actions of my close friends and the second noticeable trend is that No. 5’s generally bring out the best in me. Now, the latter isn’t exactly something tangible. It’s completely metaphysical, but that is why level 5 is such a wildcard. You might actually run into a burning building to save this person. There is a good chance that they will be the first person you call if you want to see the stalk your partner's crazy ex. Loooool!

6. Family and Significant Others:

These are people that you look in the eye and can say “I love you” with all honesty and it is not to take advantage of them. 

For me "Friends become chosen Family", and as the Sage Book put it "A man who has friends must himself be friendly", while reading this I am sure you can picture how your significant other moved from a perfect stranger, or your best friend graduated from acquaintance, some friends even got double promotion from colleagues from significant other. Other times, reverse is the case, some significant others turn strangers immediately the contract of love is terminated, some best friends become acquaintances. Please note, there is no one rule to the levels of friendship, this post as stated earlier is to help you identify people for the position they hold in your life and watch them progress or regress as the case maybe, it will also help you figure out the true position you hold in another person's life.

Do you have friends have recently been promoted or regressed or how you progressed and regressed in level in another person's life and you want to share with us? Head over to the comment section and drop those experiences.  

See you next time, when we will be identifying those friends you should keep or toss in the bin.
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