Reverb 10 - Prompt #16

December 16 – Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst? (Author: Martha Mihalick)

There are a lot of different responses that I could use to answer this prompt.  Some of them, however, would be repetitive, in my opinion.  That's mainly due to the way I've answered previous prompts - I don't want each question to evoke the same responses, because how boring a read that would be!

I would like to use this opportunity to say thanks to several friends who have helped me this year by reminding me of what is really important in life.  When times are stressful, they are there to keep me standing on the ground, facing reality head-on.  It's so easy to get wrapped up in the negative in life, and sometimes you need someone there to make you laugh or send you a slightly dirty email at work that makes you literally laugh out loud.

Prime example:  one of my awesome coworkers sent out this email requesting that someone buy one of these for her and one for me for Christmas this year:

Disturbing? Absolutely.
Did I laugh out loud at work? Also absolutely.

I'd have to say that the change in perspective for me is neither gradual nor a sudden burst, but a constant change.  It ebbed and flowed as all things do, but the support and remedies to stress were always there.  My incredible coworkers had a lot to do with this, as did a few close friends from college. 

These folks have also changed my perspective about leaving guilty feelings behind and embracing the excitement that the future holds!  It's been such a refreshing thing to learn how to just be excited about things that are going on in my life and to let go of worrying what other people - outsiders - think. 

I have my friends to thank for that, and I am beyond grateful!

Until next time,