Boxes.

I was thinking the other day about a lot of things - friends, my sister and brother-in-law's opinion that I am weird/autistic, work and a few other topics.

Specifically, I was thinking about how I have a habit of boxing/categorising things and not letting them bleed into other things.

A good example are the people who have managed me in my various work places. I view them as my managers. That's their role in my life. They're not co-workers and they're not friends (regardless of how well we get along.) In my entire professional career, covering many workplaces, countries and industries, I've only ever regarded one manager to be a friend.

Friends is another thing. I don't regard CC to be a friend, for example. We're people who know each other, even though we often do dinner dates etc. KfW2's husband, too. He's KfW2's husband. We get along really well and stuff, but "friends" is not the category I first think to put him in.

Attraction as well. I've had the conversation with GM and GB about the types of attraction - girlfriend, FwB, pure lust etc. It's rare that I'll see someone as, say, a FwB, then change my mind. My initial reaction almost never changes.

There are exceptions to all these rules. KfW2 herself, for example. She's most definitely a friend. I've mentioned the one manager who was more than that.

But whatever triggered that line of thought a few days ago (I think it's the upcoming performance reviews) has led me to ponder this categorisation thing quite a bit over the past few days.