Frenemies are friends who double up as your enemies. Some people pretend to be your friends so they can cause some harm to you. Some people are your friends but they knowingly or unknowingly do something untoward to you or for you. Regardless of how they have come into your life, you need to be very cautious of frenemies. They will be around you in your neighborhood, at college or school, at work and in your social circle. It may be surprising for you to discover that a person you have known for a decade or more and who had been very intimate to you, was actually a frenemy and not the best companion you had thought him or her to be.
Here are some tips on dealing with frenemies.
1. First, you must identify or spot the frenemies in your life. The best case situation is that you would find at least one. The worst case is you are thronged by frenemies and you don’t have any real friend. The sooner you spot your frenemies, the better it is for you. If you indulge in delays or procrastinate and don’t spot them, then they can cause you more harm that you would either not anticipate or be unprepared for.
2. Second, you must ask yourself what you wish to do with your frenemies. Can you do without them or do you need them in your life? Some frenemies are essential in your life because of some contribution they have made or due to some reasons which make them relevant in the present context or will make them valuable in the future. If you can get rid of your frenemies, then do so. If you cannot, then you need a much more multipronged and well conceived plan.
3. You should always guard against the frenemies whom you cannot do without. You have to draw a line that you would not cross. Being too intimate with frenemies will make you more vulnerable and that will open you up to a lot of potential trouble. Frenemies don’t just have materialistic impact in your life. It is the immaterial outcome that is more hurtful at times. One can easily suffer from clinical depression, anxiety and can also become averse to emotions and social bonding when one is truly betrayed by a friend who actually was an enemy.
4. If you think there’s some misunderstanding between you and a friend which has made him or her a frenemy, then you should talk and resolve the problem. In such case, being a frenemy is merely a symptom and not the troubling cause.