Taking a stand might cost you a friend. If it does, that friendship was rented, not owned.
RESILIENCE
WHAT THIS MEANS
Some friendships run on agreement. They work beautifully while you line up and come apart when you do not, and that is not a betrayal so much as a discovery about what the thing was made of all along. Knowing that in advance does not make it painless, and it is reasonable to be sad about a friendship that turns out to have had conditions in it.
Do not take a position in order to test people, which is a bad reason and usually visible. Just notice afterwards who stayed and let that inform how much you lean on whom.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Which friendship depends on you never taking a stand?
MORE IN COURAGE & RISK
- The tryout you skip feels safe for a day. Then you watch the season from the stands and wonder.
- Joining a club alone, without a friend to lean on, is how you make friends who aren’t from your old circle.
- When your gut says something’s wrong at a job, speaking up early is safer than waiting for proof that hurts someone.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.