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Familiarity breeds complacency

I am sure that you have heard the saying "Familiarity breeds contempt" and often this is true, as soon as we become used to something we run the risk of losing our respect for it.

How long does something remain "new"? As soon as we have had it for a while our attitude toward it changes and we no longer treat it as we did when it was new. We lose the excitement of ownership and evaluate what we have, normally to the detriment of what we have, against what is now available.

While losing the sense of the value of our possessions is bad the greatest danger of familiarity is that it leads to complacency in our relationships. We take people for granted and stop treating them as special. We just expect them to be there. We expect them to know what to do. We expect them to put up with us and we feel that we have to put up with them.

Think about your relationship with your job. I'll bet that when you first started there you wanted to make an impression. You maybe came in early and left late, you were polite to everyone and eager to help and show how good you were. You were excited about your job and maybe even bragged about it.

How do you treat your job now? Now, I know that you would never do anything like this but I'll bet that you know people who do. They come in late and leave early. They are only polite to those that they feel they must be. They only do what is necessary and are quick to say "that's not in my job description". They are depressed about their job and complain about it.

Evaluate your relationship with your job. If you were to apply for a new job and explained to your prospective employer how you treat your current job do you think that you would get, or even deserve, the new job?

Think about the way you treat your partner. Do you still do the things that you did when you were courting and the relationship was new and exciting? Have you allowed your relationship to take second place in your life? If you had to find a new partner do you think that you would be successful if you treated them the way you treat your existing partner?

The problem that many people face is that once they've caught their partner they stop courting them. Marriage seems to lead to a major change in the status of their relationship as they move from being lovers to being spouses.

Sometimes it seems easier to focus on what's wrong than what's right. While you were still courting you tended to focus on all your partners good points and looked forward to being together. As soon as you had caught them and spent all your time together and got to "know" them familiarity set in and the excitement left.

Rekindle the excitement you felt when you first met, you can stay passionately in love forever if you constantly treat your partner as "new". Remind yourself of what attracted you to them in the first place. Imagine how you would feel if they were to leave you for someone else. Realise how special it is to have someone share your life with you. Treat them the way you would treat your lover. Celebrate your relationship.

Reawaken your sense of excitement and gratitude for your life.

You do not need a new job to feel better, you need to treat your job better to feel new.

Remember this, good lovers do not need new partners every night, good lovers treat their partners like new lovers every night.

Be aware of your relationships and do not allow familiarity to breed complacency.

To live your best life be true to the YOU, that you want to be.

Live with passion. Change your life from making a living to making a difference.

Live up to the reputation that you want to have.