Someone once said, “Do not marry for money. Relocate to a community of rich people, and then marry for love”. On the surface, this looks like some mean, evil advice. However, if you think about it, you will see the light. It takes commitment and growth to renegotiate your station in life, to a state whereby you can build relationships with the people you desire to live, work and play with. No matter what you aim to achieve in your life, you will need the ability to draw upon relationships. It will be too late to start digging a well when the house is already on fire. You must be conscious about building relationships with the right people, right now. You will need them later on.
A great mistake people make is that they approach relationship building like a farm overrun by weeds. They have not given any thought to the kinds and quality of relationships they would need for the kind of future they want to build. If you want a rich and satisfactory life, be conscious about building relationships with people leading a rich and fulfilling life. You should be consciously building relationships relevant to your current station in life. You should decide which direction you want to go, and which communities would be most suitable for enabling those kinds of outcomes. Approach relationship building like a farmer that is out to cultivate the best farm ever.
When you approach relationship building (including falling in love) consciously, you will see the need to prune your relationships from time to time. Relationships need to be evaluated. You must evaluate which direction these relationships are pulling you towards. Remember that your time and energy is limited. You will not be able to build a relationship with all the good people that are a good fit for you. You will not be able to keep up with all the great people out there with shared interests. Your time and attention is valuable, you cannot hand it to people at random. As you pay the price for growth and upward mobility, approach relationship building consciously.
