The definition of an acquaintance is someone who “one knows slightly, but is not a close friend.” The truth of the matter is that many of us have more acquaintances than we would like to believe. We meet someone and accept them into our circle. We bend over backwards for them expecting reciprocity if we were ever in the same situation. However, these people don’t appear to see the situation as we do and when the time comes for the favor to be returned they are nowhere to be found. It’s one thing when this happens with someone we barely know but when a “close” friend shows their true colors it throws us for a loop. There are certain actions we expect from people who barely know us. These actions include being judge, jumping to conclusions or making assumptions. We justify these actions in our heads with the thought that “they don’t really know me.” But when so-called people in our lives who we thought we were close to display these same actions our bubble is broken. Sometimes only time and trouble can show us who our real friends are. They are the ones who take an interest in our lives and would do just as much for us as we would for them. There’s a saying that a friend would bail you out of jail but a real friend would be in jail with you saying, “that was fun, wasn’t it?” It’s time to start taking inventory of people in your life who call themselves your friends. I’m the kind of person who doesn’t even use the term friend until I’ve known someone for a good amount of time or spend a lot of time with them. There’s too many people who are parasitic and don’t have your best interest at heart. The sooner you can realize that, the sooner you can separate yourself from those people without all the emotional pull that sometimes comes along with dropping someone you once thought was your close friend.