As human beings, we can’t survive alone; we need community, family, and friends to survive. However, if you’re looking to pursue something bigger than yourself, you must be careful with who you surround yourself with because many of us tend to be in relationships that do not serve us. There’s a power in having meaningful relationships. Hence, in this post, we will see why it’s important to have meaningful relationships and where you can find them.
What’s a meaningful relationship?
In Emmerance’s words, a meaningful relationship is a relationship that has a vision, a goal. A relationship where the people around you are beneficial to you, where you feel heard and supported.
It’s like having a reliable support system. A system that contains meaningful relationships is key when you need it. The people that are involved in it are the ones that support you, cheer you up and correct you whenever you need it.
People in your support system could be:
A family member: If you’re the only child, you can still have a meaningful relationship with your mother, father or cousins. They’re the people that know you really well, people that you can call about your other relationships, especially romantic relationships.
A close friend: Ever since we were kids, we naturally made a new friend. We had friends in the neighbourhood, at school, or that one friend you met at a park. So it was easy for us to make friends. However, when you grow, most of the time, you will realize that those friends aren’t there to support you.
So don’t feel bad if some old friends aren’t in your meaningful relationship circle. You can have one or two friends who are there to support you no matter what, and that’s all that matters.
Colleagues: Most of us spend most of our time with our work colleagues because we spend a reasonable amount of time at work. So, it’s also common to have friends at work. However, there can be people that don’t want to see you win. Accordingly, you need to make sure that you have at least one person to turn to whenever your work stresses you.
Why it’s important to have meaningful relationships?
Based on the definition above, you can guess why it’s important to have meaningful relationships. The basic of having meaningful relationships is for you to have a support system. A system on which you can rely when things aren’t going well with you or when you’re making big decisions or going through a change in your life.
So we’re experiencing global lockdowns, many people feel lonely, and we don’t have much access to a social life like we used to. So with that said, this is a time where you can use your meaningful relationship whenever you’re feeling lonely because many people have mental breakdowns due to that loneliness. After all, we’re social animals.
In this particular example, it’ll be healthy to turn to a meaningful relationship and not to someone who feeds you more negativity. It would be good if you had people around you that can help you with that loneliness. Or people that you can reach out to whenever you’re having a mental breakdown.
There are moments where you’ll need encouragement. Whenever you find yourself in front of a goal that’s bigger than you, for you to pursue that goal, it’ll be hard if you don’t have anyone encouraging you.
For example, if you’re trying to open a business. A meaningful relationship would be helpful to put more positive thoughts on your business idea. They will cheer you up and encourage you to continue because they understand that you’re serious. Even though they don’t know your big picture, they will keep that positivity around because they know that it will not be an easy journey.
Meaningful relationships are also crucial when you want to achieve something. When you surround yourself with people who are currently where you want to be, it motivates you to change.
For example, if you wanted to lose weight, you will need to talk to someone that’s either going through the same goals or has been there. Just being around people like that will encourage you to keep going.
So it would help if you had access to meaningful relationships at all times. At times of crisis and whenever you’re making a significant change in your life.
How do you know that the relationship that you have is meaningful?
Let’s evaluate if you have meaningful relationships already. In the self-evaluation blog post, I explained why it’s essential to assess your environment. The reason for doing that evaluation is for you to determine if you have toxic relationships.
Most of the time, we end up having meaningful relationships with our family and friends, and then we can have toxic relationships with our romantic partners. However, our family members and friends can also be the toxic ones.
Knowing if you have meaningful relationships is to ask yourself how much you trust each individual in your circle. Your circle doesn’t have to be big; you have to look for quality over quantity. Are the people in your life bringing you any value?
People that are in meaningful relationships know their role. They’re sometimes the ones that can give you a service without wanting anything back. They are also drama-free and don’t take advantage of you. Your roles are mutual, and they respect your decisions and boundaries.
What to do to keep that meaningful relationship?
It’s essential to know how to keep a meaningful relationship. With social media today, we no longer know how to communicate. We no longer know how to call a friend, ask them how they’re doing, and catch up.
Therefore, if you currently have meaningful relationships, you have to know how to nourish those relationships. As noted above, you can have family members in your support system. You can also have your work/school colleagues. Therefore, these different options aren’t always going to fit all of them. However, remember that you can always find a way to keep in touch with each member of your support system.
Buy them gifts/do them a service: I don’t recall anyone saying that they dislike gifts or a service that is done for them. If you remember the last time you received a gift, there’s a high chance that it warmed your heart. You probably smiled so hard that your cheeks started burning.
My point is, if you want to keep those meaningful relationships around, it’s important to know what they’re into and buy them something they’ll like. You can also surprise them with something they would like to have. You can also send a card with warm words of how you appreciate them.
Stay in contact and remain consistent: Many of us no longer pick up the phone to call someone to know how they’re doing. I mean, I think I can speak for myself on this one. I’m not blaming social media or text messages. Still, we’re so used to continuing conversations or sending memes without saying good morning, good night or ask the other person how they’re doing.
If you can resonate with that, I challenge you to pick up the phone and call someone you identified as having a meaningful relationship. Have a 5 to 10 minutes conversation might warm their heart. We’re in the middle of quarantine, and many are missing hearing someone else’s voice over the phone.
Be there when they need you: Your meaningful relationship is beneficial to you because they’re the people that are positive when you need that positivity. They’re there to encourage you and want to see you win. Make sure that it reciprocates. You don’t want to be the only one that’s taking but not giving back.
Hang out, go out with them: Whenever you have the chance, ask them out to hang out. If the outside is closed for you, you can do something over video chat. Plan a sushi night or a movie night over while distancing, or play a game online. And whenever the outdoor activities are back, you can also invite them for coffee or a simple picnic.
Where do you find meaningful relationships?
You can create a meaningful relationship within the relationship that you already have. You probably have meaningful relationships with your family, friends, or colleagues. If you have a friend you trust, but your relationship with the individual doesn’t have meaning, you can communicate that you’d like to have a meaningful relationship.
If you don’t know how to address it, you can start by telling your friend that you’d love to talk more about investments and less gossip. Or you often send memes to each other, and you can let them know that you’d instead send educational videos.
If you’re looking to reach a particular goal, you can find that meaningful relationship in a community. There are many online communities in which you can sign up for where people with the same mindset or goal share ideas. These communities can motivate you to go for what you want, and you can also find new connections there.
To finish, remember that to survive, you need relationships. However, if you want to be great and reach your goals, having meaningful relationships is crucial. It can be in your family, friends or colleagues, but whoever it is, make sure that you’re having a good relationship and don’t forget to nourish it.
