Relationships
No matter who you are, what you do, or where you live, you are involved in relationships. Relationships can be romantic based, business based, friendship based…pretty much any interaction between two people can be considered a relationship. It can be as simple as exchanging money and pleasantries at the store or as complex as being a parent.
Relationships go back as far as man. We have always sought out companions, people we meld with through similar interests. We learn to accept others the way they are and the way they think in both social and business situations, and by doing that, we build stronger bonds. Of course, not all relationships are good ones. Soldiers on conflicting sides of a battle field are in a relationship that forces them to fight the other. No matter how you look at it, mankind is in a relationship all the time.
Types of Relationships
Most of our interactions with others are considered interpersonal relationships. They can be focused, such as the interaction between you and the person at the cash register, or unfocused, such as two people riding the same bus but not even acknowledging the other is even there. There are many different types of relationships, as we will explore here.
Kinship and family relationships are probably the most common relationships recognized by everyone. They are the earliest ones we experience from the time we are born and are the ones that mean the most in our lives. We have interactions with our parents, grandparents, sibling, aunt, uncles, and cousins. These relationships can be genetic or through marriage, giving us an extended family to interact with.
Formalized intimate or long-term relationships are those that are recognized by the law and made formal through some form of ceremony. These are marriages or civil unions, but they may not necessarily come with family intact. In today’s world where alternate living styles are becoming more and more common, the idea that someone’s son or daughter is living with and engaging in personal pursuits with someone of the same sex still offends some families. When this happens, the individual only has their partner, making their relationship interactions that much more meaningful.
On the flip side of formalized intimate relationships there are the non-formal ones. These are the relationships that haven’t been formalized in some form of ceremony. People could be living together, or not, refer to their partner as their ‘lover’, ‘boyfriend’, ‘girlfriend’, or ‘significant other’. These relationships can sometime be views as common law marriages if the couple is together for a set length of time. In some countries, common law couples who part after being together for a long time actually have the same right to the common property as the other person.
Soul mates are another type of relationship that may not commonly be considered. People automatically lump this in with marriage relationships, but that may not necessarily be the case. People who find their soul mates have found someone they are drawn to through mutual acceptance and understanding of one another. They feel a deeper connection with each other, on that is on a spiritual level that many do not understand. Whether soul mates become sexual partners is something personal between the two people involved as there may be factors that keep them apart. It is definitely not a requirement.
A casual relationship is one where two people are friends, but not close friends. It can also be a relationship that includes sex beyond the limits of a one night stand. Any casual relationship can also consist of neighbours in a community that speak on a regular basis, someone knowing who you are when you go to the same grocery store for years, and other interactions where there is a bond, but not a strong one.
Platonic love relationships are those where two people are in a close relationship filled with affection, but sex is not involved. These are usually between a man and a woman, but can also be between two men, or two women. People we consider our best friends, ones we talk to all the time, are the closest to, who know our deepest, darkest secrets and fears are the ones we are in platonic relationships with.
Friendships, like kinship and family relationships, are the relationships we spend the most time cultivating and developing through our formative years. The closest ones move from friendships into a platonic love relationship, as those are the ones that have stood the test and trials of time. Friendships do consist of mutual love for one another, as well as trust, respect and unconditional acceptance. We look over our friends faults and accept them for who they are. Most friendships are built around a common ground and this can include internet friends and pen-pals in other places.
Brother and sisterhoods are groups of people who have united together to serve a common or participate in a common interest. Clubs, organizations, associations, societies, lodges, fraternity’s and sorority’s are all forms of brother and sisterhood relationships. This type of interaction also includes the fellowship of soldiers in peace and wartime. Some of these relationships can actually cross into other areas, such as family and friendship depending on the participants involved. For example, some lodges encourage fathers and sons to be members together.
Professional relationships are probably the third largest relationship we have on a day to day basis. We interact with our co-workers and bosses, work together to complete projects in team settings, and occasionally move in the same circles as our co-workers in social settings. These are the people we see almost as much, if not more, than our own families throughout the course of a week.
Neighbourhoods, especially close-knit ones, are looked at as community relationships. In these areas, we interact with our neighbours, watch out for each others children and homes, and share summer activities, like cookouts and games. Another community relationship is Senior Citizens. Almost every town has a centre specifically for our older community members to meet in fellowship. Churches, synagogues, and other religious meeting places are also community relationships.
The last of the relationship types are the ones we make simply by association. These are the people we all just know, if not by name, then at least by recognition. This could be the local librarian or police officer, the pharmacist, and so on.