Roles

 It's important to understand the purpose of "roles" in life. I remembered this concept from Stephen Covey's "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". 

In life, one must always understand roles, and how to successfully fulfill them. Whether it's being a son, a friend (the most important role, in my opinion), a client, a patient etc.

I find that in my type of life people can confuse professional relationships with personal relationships. Personal relationships are the ones that you should treasure, hence why friendship is so important.

But, some people confuse (and I find this to be the case where I live) a professional contact with their friend. Really, if the contact is professional, we don't owe them anything. It is important to realize that a worker, a doctor, etc is always there to serve us. That is why they are getting paid money. I have a tendency to try to please professional contacts and workers, and gain their approval.

I have this theory that a professional contact cares more about their "job" then the person they are paid to help. I have noticed this as well with colleagues and working in my field.

Thus, it's good to understand our roles, and what are obligations are. The term "boundaries" is sometimes used. I don't really appreciate this term but I suppose one could understand that understanding a role could lead to strengthened and appropriate boundaries.