Our Vintage Album

Do you still keep your old photos? Remember those old days when we used to wait for  days for the photos to be developed? How much we cherished our memories despite the limited amount of photos we used to take? Do you still have those old pictures? That vintage album that keeps years and years of your life in between its covers? Grab this, and let’s reflect a bit on many years of our lives that passed …

Where did friends go?

We have crossed hundreds, or probably thousands of people through our lives, and made lots of friends .. remember those days? Where did friends go, and how did we separate, not only physically, but emotionally? What happened to us that we rarely touch base, maybe once in a year? or maybe even never connect at all … They say “Old friends are like gold” right? Did we just trash our gold reserve?

Probably the majority of people will justify this by saying that the priorities of life differ, and life takes away people from each other .. Maybe … I only wonder why our parents / grand parents were never taken by life priorities and they had friends for 60 years long!

So, despite “Life Priorities” is a good story to tell ourselves in the mirror in order to pacify our conscious, I don’t believe that it is the real reason .. Let’s dig further …

Where did Values go?

When I opened my parents’ album, I was positively surprised to see that I almost recognized all of their friends when they were young … I knew all of them at older ages, but when I saw their old pictures, I could still recognize so many faces .. They had each other for years and years, and they were so close to each other in good and bad times ..

I then reflected on my own album .. .. great moments with so many great people .. but where did everyone go? Is it really priority? So friendship became at the tail of priorities nowadays? … That’s not true …

Today, we have communications tools that are thousands times faster, more reliable, and way cheaper than the ones our parents had, and we can almost reach any one in the world free of charge and instantly only if we want to … so it is not the question of priorities, it’s the question of the values and belief behind the action of priorities .. The real question we need to find an answer for is ..”Do we value friends anymore?” .. “Do we believe in friendship?” or is it a transactional relationship?

The Ghosts in our lives!

Digging into the root cause further, and looking at relationship trends revealed that the majority of relationships in life today are based on transactions and benefit .. I will be your friend as long as I can benefit from you, then when I am done, the relationship is done! People are turning into ghosts, and vanish once the transaction is complete … Do you relate to that?

How many “friends” were close to you when you were at a senior position in your organization? When you had money and they wanted to borrow some? When they wanted you to recommend them through your network? …etc .. where are they now?

As relationships are becoming more and more superficial, cosmetic, and artificial, life is becoming full of ghosts everywhere around … People with no impact whatsoever .. Just racing for money,  status and power .. “Ghost Relationships” are growing day after day ..

The way out

The way out of this dark tunnel that the majority of people are walking through is basically getting back to the real values of humanity .. There are people out there seeking emotional support .. feeling bad today and need a helping hand .. You might be the only person who can make a difference in their lives .. What stops you from creating that amazing experience to them?

Haven’t we all passed through tough times? Think about it … How did we get out? Money? Senior job? Influence? .. Maybe those are some secondary reasons, but the real reason of why people survive emotional crisis is actually other people around them helping them through. With this being rare today, and while people are getting “busier” everyday, a number of people are learning, then mastering solitude, while the majority of people are falling in the trap of loneliness and fake socializing.

The choice remains yours … Ghost or Human? ……… Make a call!

Written by:

Engagement Expert, International Speaker & Pragmatic researcher