So here are 7 reasons why cultivating relationships is forever better than craving mere connections.
1. Relationships last
Connections have a shelf life. While the reason for the connection remains, either in mechanism e.g. a Twitter follower or a reason i.e. to bolster the number of people in their business network, the association bonds well. The moment one or other wants new (more profitable) alliances, the connection breaks all too flimsily.
Relationships and friendships are more long lasting and much more committed. And far stronger too.
2. They give as much as they get
Connections have an element of falseness. There is an unwritten mantra of ‘I’m in it as long as it benefits me’. Relationships would falter on such selfishness. They only grow through mutual appreciation whereby each individual gives as much as they get and never just until the advantages have been exhausted.
Relationships are mutual and based on a permanent give and take rather than take and run.
3. They grow stronger over time
Relationships are built to last, connections less so. Over time within a relationship the bonds and emotions become heightened and enduring and the people involved become closer. There is great respect, understanding, and admiration, which can’t ever be replicated to the same degree in some online or corporate link-up.
Relationships grow stronger and more devoted over time – fewer connections ever manage this.
4. They have the human touch
Humans would die without personal contact with each other – a fact. Relationships falter, friendships get pressured, and long standing groups fall away without it. This genetic ‘need’ keeps us physically together so we can be in each other’s company, smile, laugh, hug and touch, with those that matter to us. A web cam or e-mail or Facebook poke can never replace that reality. We need touch.
Relationships support our human survival instinct of being together in the flesh.
5. For personal and private turn to a relationship
Connections provide superb assistance and add a large degree of support to life. But they can never match the huge depth that relationships have. If you are facing a major issue or hurtful time there is only so much you can or want to say to the world at large. The situation is personal and you require private confidantes in your life in return to talk and open up to who you know won’t share your pains or gossip about it publicly. People who know and love you who will get you through.
Relationships are there when things get personal and when you need things kept private.
6. Relationships are earnt, not given.
Relationships aren’t given away, they have to be earnt. The closeness and feeling you share with someone has to have been developed over years and years of showing and proving your character and trust to another. Connections often only start over an online request or business card so no knowledge of a person’s past is declared or even known. Relationships that have a strong future get there often from a shared past.
Relationships have to be merited not created like connections can be.
7. They are all about love
Love is many things from respect to holding others in great esteem. But true love is the major emotion two hearts feel with its accompanying attraction, desire, passion, and immense longing. It gets in your mind, your bones, your actions, and flows through your blood like oxygen filling the whole system. No connection can ever replace love or even come close to it because it’s only relationships where love is born and where the love is shared naturally and humanly.
Relationships are love and love is relationships. Nothing else comes close.
Connections are what keeps mankind on the move. From ideas to trade, shared information to justice, without them the world would be a lot smaller and a less developed place. Connections are good!
After all where would I be without connections reading and commenting on my blog?
But, we don’t want to lose the balance of connections over relationships because we can link up across the world but be lonely right where we are. Relationships supply us with more things than connections ever can for longer than they ever can.
You can’t marry a Tweet, you can’t hug a business card, and you can never discuss a personal hurt with a room full of social networking buffs at a training conference.You need real relationships for that.
Relationships matter, make sure yours always matter first to you.
