Relationships with other people

"We often act as if relationships are tasks to be squeezed into our schedule. We talk about finding time for our children or making time for people in our lives. But relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life. The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them. Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. The greatest gift you can give someone is your time, because when you do that, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Relationships take time and effort."

Yep, thats true. But relationships can also be tough, and that is when they need the most time and effort. To me, its seems the reason why relationships are tough, and I've come to this realisation over the last few years, is that people apparently live in self-centred worlds. It's like we're innately selfish beings. There have only been a few people that I've encountered in my life (besides family) who don't come across as preoccupied with themselves, who are genuinely interested in listening to you and don't revel in talking about themselves at every opportunity. Its a natural thing i guess, I can't expect other people's world to revolve around me, and vice versa. But people who take this to the extreme just make relationships really really really damn tough.