Difference between friends, acquaintance and colleagues

There are many levels of friendship just as there are many levels of many other relationship. One of the most common mistakes we make is that of confusing friends with acquaintances and colleagues etc. Friendship develops over time but that doesn’t mean every acquaintance you have will convert to a friend over time. In order to have a properly healthy relationship with everyone it’s good to leaves certain people the way they are and not try and befriend every one you know. 

An acquaintance is someone you know but only have minor level of relationship with. You probably do not have any intimacy with them apart from sharing some minor details of your life with them. A good example of this would be Facebook friends. We only interact with them on a very minor level and don’t know most of them very well. There is some sort of intermediary position between acquaintance and friend.  There is perhaps a tentative friendship level where you are trusting someone with some of the intimate details of your life to try out where the friendship might go.  You may be testing them a little to see how they react to various aspects of your life.  You are building trust and friendship level intimacy with them.

A friend is someone who will be there for you in every happy or sad event of your life. They are the ones you can rely on. You could share really practical issues with them that you'd be embarrassed to share with other people.  You may trust their judgement  because you know they are similar to you, or maybe you just like having a devil's advocate if their outlook is different. With a really good friend you could even ask them to be the executor of your will and trust that they knew you well enough to administer your will the way you would want it because they are very intimate with the details of your life.

It is necessary to weigh your levels of intimacy and commitment to people accordingly. Sharing too much and too soon to people who might not need to know you like that can be a deal breaker. Placing too much trust in someone you do not know well enough can lead to hurt and disappointment. Although, this is just a trait that we as human beings acquire over time. So, it’s best and in everyone’s interest to choose our friends wisely.

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