{"id":835,"date":"2018-05-30T11:27:10","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T01:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/?p=835"},"modified":"2018-05-30T11:27:10","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T01:57:10","slug":"ive-got-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/2018\/05\/30\/ive-got-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;ve got a friend&#8230;.."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve got a friend.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s with me pretty much most of the time.<\/p>\n<p>He even sleeps with me.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part he is very helpful. He teaches me stuff. He keeps an eye out for danger or opportunity. He encourages and supports me when I take on new things.<\/p>\n<p>He is very helpful when I am dealing with other people. He makes them laugh and tries to put them at ease. Although he is a bit quiet like me, he does enjoy trying to help other people.<\/p>\n<p>He is pretty smart. He thinks about deep things like the universe and the meaning of life, although he probably isn&#8217;t as smart as he thinks he is. Sometimes he comes across as a bit of a know-it-all.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s not perfect though. Sometimes he can be a bit of an asshole. He criticises me or calls me names. Sometimes he ridicules the things I am interested in, or says I am not good enough to do the things I enjoy.<\/p>\n<p>If he is angry, and he does get angry quite often, he takes it out on other people, which isn&#8217;t very nice.<\/p>\n<p>He can also be a bit unpredictable. He can get freaked out for seemingly no reason, or suddenly seem to stop functioning right when I need him most.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Because he is always with me, I have tended to take him for granted. I&#8217;ve not always invested time and effort into looking after his needs, or paying attention to what he wants.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes I&#8217;ve ignored or abused him. There have even been times when I wished he wasn&#8217;t there.<\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;ve got older though, I&#8217;ve realised that he is going to be my friend till the end, and that I owe him the respect and care that I owe to anyone that I love.<\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;ve tried to be a better friend to him.<\/p>\n<p>I know he likes to eat healthy, and get plenty of exercise (even though I can&#8217;t really be bothered with either).<\/p>\n<p>I know that he likes a challenge and wants to work on and try new things regularly (even though I kinda want sit on the couch and watch Netflix)<\/p>\n<p>I know that he likes to have long and interesting conversations with people about the meaning of life (when I kinda just want to be by myself).<\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;ve tried harder to make these things happen for him. I&#8217;ve tried harder to meet his needs.<\/p>\n<p>And he has rewarded me as a result. He is kinder, more thoughtful and compassionate towards me. He criticises me less, and encourages me more. I reckon he&#8217;s got less angry over time.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I feel bad that I neglected his needs for so long, but he doesn&#8217;t seem to hold a grudge. We are getting along much better now.<\/p>\n<p>He knows now that I will try to look after him and I know that he will do the same for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; I&#8217;ve got a friend. He&#8217;s with me pretty much most of the time. He even sleeps with me. 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