Your life’s networks: Part 1 — Confidants
We are all confidants; and why we all need confidants too
“In life, it’s a never ending circle of confidant’s confidants…you might not be everyone’s confidant, but you will always be at least one’s confidant.”
The word confidant has come up a lot in the past few days. Someone I know recently used the word “confidant”, and since then this word keeps repeating itself over and over again in my head. I can’t keep but think of every person in my life, and who’s whose confidant. As I think of examples of people that I know, and whom they use as their confidant, and thinking of the descriptors of a confidant and whether these individuals fit into this description, I realize that I am too a confidant.
Growing up, I always saw my mom as other people’s confidant. She was always the person to go to if you ever had any struggles, wanted to rant, or just wanted someone to listen. My mom was well-known to be able to keep secrets, and would not tell anyone else even if people tried to get secrets out of her.
While being a confidant is a highly prized position, in my opinion, but it is also a hard position to be in. You end up spending a lot of hours babysitting and trying to make people more calm, and you also feel obligated to make sure an individual feels ok after they share their inner secrets with you.
Being a confidant is neither a good or bad thing, but in the end you always end up helping someone so that’s always a pro. However, in order to be a good confidant, you also need to have a confidant yourself, so that you keep yourself sane, otherwise you keep way too much to yourself and feel too much obligations and responsibilities that can become very overwhelming.
In life, it’s a never ending circle of confidant’s confidants. I think this is where relationships plays a huge role. Every human on this planet is at least one other person’s confidant. Without having a confidant yourself, this might be where things unravel and go very, very wrong. Having a confidant is a way to vent, and having a confidant is also a way to keep yourself sane.
