Newsletter for August 2, 2024

Friendship

How often do friendships change? I believe it happens a lot. Friends come and go. Some come for a season and leave for a reason. It is so important to be kind to yourself and realize that during growth we need to adjust as we get older, we transform and when we change our friendships change too! They look different and feel different. It’s not all bad. It just is.

When I got sober, I had friends when I needed them. But, a lot of friends just disappeared. 

It’s kind of like when you get divorced. 

Prior to getting divorced I had a lot of married friends. I had spent holidays and other occasions with these people. They were like family. Then they all disappeared. They ran away like they were scared. It felt like they thought they could catch it. Like it was a disease! 

Just like alcoholism. When I told some friends I had quit drinking they dropped me like a hot potato! 

Real friendships are hard to come by. I remember when I was little my mom would tell me, “Elizabeth if you have a handful of friends before you die you’re a very blessed person”  she was right. 100%  correct. She knew what she was talking about. 

By the way, this is what we get from history. We learn from our elders. We get to hear from older people. We get to hear from different people about history and their past experiences. My mom warned me a long time ago, you don’t need all these friends, Elizabeth.  You just need solid friends, real friends and I can honestly say today I have a handful of friends that would be there in a heartbeat!

Although, I also have a lot of acquaintances to which I feel blessed. But real friends that will show up no matter what it’s like a humongous gift! They are the  friends that will pick you up if you have a flat tire on the highway or on a back road. You know that if you call this friend they will show up!  That’s a true friend. A friend that doesn’t gossip about you to other people that’s a true friend, a friend that doesn’t judge you, a friend that doesn’t make you feel badly about yourself is a true friend. A dear friend will also tell you when they are worried about you, these real friends will call BS when you need to hear it. 

I have a couple of these friends and I feel very blessed. But, I’ve met women that I pray I never see again! They were not nice people and just because they say that they are something and in a program does not mean that they’re nice or that they’re authentic. They may look pretty on the outside but on the inside they’re yucky

I went through times with these tough people and I pray again,that I never have to see any of them again. I was raised in Missouri, the midwest, it wasn’t only Apple pie and the Cardinals,  it was a belief that you loved your neighbors. Everyone said hello to everyone. ( BTW I still do say hi to everyone and my husband thinks I’m crazy LOL) 

I was totally naïve when I moved to the East Coast. I tried to be friends with everyone. The reality is not everyone likes me and I don’t like all people. I have learned that I have to protect my heart. This took me decades to learn after a lot of heartache and realized the steel wall around my heart. I don’t want that anymore. I wanna have true authentic friendships. It’s so interesting in today’s climate. So many “friends” are very wishy-washy about what they want and what they don’t want.  They’re afraid of what you’re gonna think over what they believe in their hearts. It’s like what your friend thinks trumps what you think? I want people that are going to be grounded and rooted in what their beliefs are. They aren’t wishy-washy; they know what is right and what is wrong instead of being like well I think this, well I think that, or it’s OK everybody can be whatever they want to be. No, that’s not the truth, not everybody can be what they wanna be, people need to be God-fearing in some form. 

I understand we all change our beliefs over time. We all go from a place of I believe this to a place I believe that and I think that that comes with growth. The older we get the wiser we are.If you stay grounded with God, you know what is right. You know in your heart what is right. It may not be what your neighbor may believe in, it might not be what your friend believes but it’s what you believe! You need to be true to yourself.  

I think right now we have so little respect for God. The Olympics was just one example of that. They mocked Christianity! We need to stand up for our beliefs hence why I am going out these days and speaking my truth. 

I’ve always been a person that’s watched the news and I’ve been around politics my entire life and I have firm beliefs. They are not wishy-washy. I understand why people don’t like Donald Trump, people think he’s mean.  I would rather have a leader that is strong and not always nice as my leader. He hasn’t rewritten history. In fact he believes in American history and what our forefathers stood for. I do wish that he was a little kinder with his words. The words that he uses sometimes come off harsh and he can be crass. 

I believe that he is the only person that can fight what’s going on in this world. Kamala Harris cannot go against Putin. She cannot go against Kim Jung Yun . She can’t go against any foreign leader. All she does is cackle. All she’s done is literally slept her way to the top, that’s the truth! I believe that a woman could be an amazing leader, but not this woman! 

And my friends that are so wishy-washy and have no beliefs and have no God are gonna vote for her because she’s Indian, Jamaican and she’s a woman!  I believe she's gonna run the United States of America into the ground! She’s  already taken us to a place that I don’t recognize with President Joe Biden!  

Donald Trump in my opinion is an amazing leader and when he was president, we can’t deny that we were all sitting in our homes with more money in our pockets. I felt safe. There were no wars going on in the world. 

I don’t feel safe today, and I told a friend the other day I said you realize that there are Chinese and Russian planes flying into Alaska airspace. She responded,  “whatever that doesn’t even count”! Yes it does count, I told her!  The countries that hate America are coming for us! . If we have Kamala Harris in office and they’re gonna take us over and we’re sitting ducks!

So as your friend I am telling you it is time to get honest, speak up! If your friends don’t agree well, so be it! Own who you are and what’s important to you! Don’t let anyone take away your freedom of speech and the freedom to be who you are, believe what you believe and stand tall! 

Life is better when you can look in the mirror and like what is staring back at you than to live a life filled with friends that really don’t care about you! 

Until next week, take care, be safe! 

Sending hugs and love to you all. 

XO 

Elizabeth aka Bizzy