Share Your World – 2016: Week 49

We are yet again one week closer to Christmas. It’s Tuesday over here in Australia again and that means it’s time for Cee’s Share Your World Challenge. Every week Cee comes up with some really fun questions to answer. If you have not discovered the Share Your World Challenge yet, you should check it out.

 

What do you value most in a friendship?
Definitely honesty. I think that’s what a great friendship needs. You need to know that when you ask something you get an honest answer. You need to know that if you are totally off track your friend will let you know. You need to know that if someone is screwing with you your friend would tell you. It’s about trust and honesty is the basis for trust.

Right before I got married I was told by someone close to me that one of my best friends had said something about the reason I get married. The person that told me was so close to me that I didn’t bother asking my friend about it in that moment but decided to choose another one of my friends to be the one person signing the paperwork with us. I didn’t tell her until close to the date when she asked me about when she needed to be there. I told her that I’d chosen someone else. She was really disappointed and asked me what made me decide that way. I told her about what I was told. Needless to say that she never said anything like this and that it was simply a made up story by someone I realized later was toxic in my life.

I learned a lot in that moment. Not only that a good friendship can actually overcome something like this but also that you should never simply believe something that is said about a close friend of yours but ask instead of assuming. I got into a similar situation again a while after getting married but I had learned my lesson and I approached the person “in question”. I think that if you are friends for long enough and close enough you also know if told the truth by your friend or not.

A real friend is someone that sticks to you. No matter what. That’s another thing I value in a real friendship: Loyalty.

Real friends don’t simply walk out on you. They are there for you when you need them the most. They lift you up, when you are down. They listen to you and they also tell you to shut up and get your sh** together if needed. They don’t drop you like a hot potato when things turn out to be different than everyone has expected them to be.

It doesn’t mean that you need to see or chat with each other on a regular base. The connection with a real friend will definitely be deep enough to remain, even if you are miles away.

I’m lucky enough to have friends like this in my life. True friends.

I’m also lucky enough that my life filtered them out. That the wrong ones left or got highlighted and I got the chance to walk away from them. There is truly no need for fake friends. They only drag you down.

Do you prefer eating the frosting of the cake or the cupcake first?  Do you prefer a specific flavor?
I usually make a sandwich with it…

Have you ever been in a submarine?  If you haven’t, would you want to?
Yes. We’ve done the submarine tour in different places to see the amazing under water world. I believe the first one was in a mini one when I visited the Great Barrier Reef for the first time. It was really tiny and attached to a platform out on the reef. I hoped on it either after snorkeling or right before… I don’t remember anymore. But it was amazing.

The second time was in the Caribbean  a few years ago. It was amazing and a fun thing to do with the kids and then we did another one as a family in Hawaii a few years back.

As much fun as it is to do one of those tours, it’s also making me realize that I would never ever want to have to work on one. I’m not claustrophobic but I believe I would actually go nuts if I would work on one and be down there constantly, knowing about all the water that is around me and above me.

I love being in the water and I would love to be able to stay down there for a long time. But out in the water and not in a torpedo shaped thingy, depending on the quality of how it’s built and everyone else that is down with me…

If 100 people your age were chosen at random, how many do you think you’d find leading a more satisfying life than yours?
I’m very happy with my life. There are bumps in my road of course but I tend to look at everything in a positive way. I know that some people are wired differently. I doubt that I would see any of the 100 people actually living a more satisfying life than I do. Not because they might not live a “better” life on paper but simply because I wouldn’t see it that way.

I believe strongly in being in charge of your own happiness.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? 
I’m incredibly thankful for my family and for my friends. I’m thankful for our new neighbors who seem to like decorating their houses for Christmas just as much as we do. It just makes such a difference. And I’m thankful for the nice weather we have at the moment and for the fantastic opportunities that were sent my way recently…