The Category Is...

Alright, so if you've all been keeping up with my Weekly (or not so weekly, I promise I'll get better) Words, you'll know I've been on a journey of self-growth. Learning to love myself more, learning to believe in myself and overall learning who I am as a person.

I've recently began to think about several different aspects of my life and how I've evolved from then. For example, Angie in high school was super charismatic, full of life, a friend to everyone. As I transitioned into college, the charisma was still very much there, still very much a friend to everyone but I realized pretty quickly that everyone was not a friend to me.

Let me explain...

Have you ever been in a situation where you're genuinely winning in life, everything is going right with you and you're accomplishing everything you've set out to and it seemed like the people you'd expect to support you were absent? Absent either physically or mentally?

I noticed in particular that my "friends" were genuinely more excited to dish about gossip or my drama and negativity but were silent or visibly annoyed by my success.

I've said before that I went through a phase of cutting off EVERYONE that even breathed wrong around me, and this is why. I was so used to spending time gassing up others and filling them with genuine support and well wishes that at times I hindered my own growth because I expected them to do the same for me. I often looked at my accomplishments as less important because the people that were important to me didn't see the value in them. Maybe this isn't that big of a deal because "so and so" said everyone does that or thats easy...why am I so hyped about it?

This leads me to the base of this word... everyone is not for everything. I can honestly look back on some of these situations and say that not all of these interactions were filled with haterade. Some people are genuinely uninterested in what you can be extremely excited about because its just not their vibe. This is why as a creative I believe finding your tribe is so important.

We may hate to say it but there are categories for everyone in your life. We all have those friends that we hang out with on a regular, we have those people that we speak to on social media that are into the same things we're into and a lot of us have those friends that we vent to and emotionally connect with. Trying to place those that have a clear category into another category will have you looking DUMB!

For years I tried to mix my casual friends with my creative/ambitious thoughts and ideas and wondered why they had little to say or gave little reaction to something I was so excited about. It was because the only connection they had to that idea was me. They could care less about what I was talking about because that wasn't their scene and they really couldn't understand it. Surrounding yourself with likeminded individuals will completely change your outlook on your art or your work and will selfishly work wonders on your confidence because you'll have people that won't have you second-guessing yourself and can actually interact with you in that space.

I think I'm at the point where I'm understanding finding your tribe doesn't mean cutting off friends that have different interests or really no interests at all, but simply comes down to dividing up your time and your energy. If you have a new creative venture, speak to and work with those that relate and understand. If you want to hang out and have a good time without focusing on your projects, call up the people that you just kick it with. Need a getaway? Where are the people you travel with? Everyone has a spot within our lives and in order to achieve peace of mind in certain spaces, you have to play categories.