Relationship building is a huge part of not only business relationships, but personal relationships via long distance. As the summer of 2018 came to an end, my friends and I began to embark on different paths that brought us outside of our comfort zone. It may not be transparent at first, but these paths will open up new opportunities and allow us to develop ourselves as individuals.
In this society, it is common for people to lose touch with those who helped build the foundation of their own ethics and morals. It is sad, but nonetheless, true. I have found one attribute to hold consistent while maintaining contact with my friends in different cities, states, and across the country, and that is effort. A simple text, call or email about a shared past experience is huge to keeping a long distance relationship alive and well.
In this post, I want you to ponder something… some may even call it homework. I challenge you to reach out to someone who has made an impact in your life that you have grown distant from for one reason or another and maybe you haven’t even noticed! Create a conversation about something that happened to you, or about a blog or article post regarding shared interests between the two of you. I have observed communication between individuals, and I have found many people are afraid to take the first step in fear of a negative outcome. By allowing yourself to go outside of your comfort zone and put yourself in a vulnerable position, you have taken the only step needed to build a relationship, or rekindle an old one! I promise, you will not regret it.
No matter how strong or self-sufficient of a person you are, you will always need others to lean on in one form or another. Do not let the people who helped you be who are today slip away. The people who were with you from the start, are usually the people who will be with you for the long hull. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying to live in the past or lose focus on your present or future self, those always need your attention. I am asking you to take a few minutes a day for reflection and look back to those people who impacted your life. Show them how important they are to you and keep in contact with them. Those people will only come around every so often, and I promise you the little connections you maintain will pay dividends for you down the road! Go outside of your comfort zone. Take that step and embark on a path you were once afraid to take. Those smalls acts may turn into some of the most influential points in your career, life, and future!
