Alright, so this isn’t the Circle of Life, but this one is pretty important. There are many circles in life, and this one has always been around, but I’m just now looking at it in a new light. 

The Circles I’m talking about are the Circles of friends. In high school, they were referred to as cliques, but now that I’m in college, I realize it’s something totally different. 

First thing is first. There is an inner circle (IC), and an outer circle(OC). The inner circle is a group people you’re good friends with, good being defined as people you hang out with, spend time with, sit with at lunch, and more, all of which occurs pretty regularly. Then there is the outer circle. The outer circle consists mainly of friends of friends, acquaintances, people you hang out with occasionally, etc. 

Now that we know what the two kinda of circles are, we need to know how they interact. 

The two circles interact in many ways. Usually the circles start off pretty small, just a person or two. Next, the inner circle grows, and naturally an outer circle forms. People move from the outer circle to the inner circle. As the inner circle grows, in order to maintain it’s close relationships, people are often rejected from the inner circle to the outer circle. This usually occurs when two people in the IC don’t get along, or one doesn’t like another. The one that remains in the inner circle is usually the one with the biggest group pull. 

People are mainly only in one IC. When that person attempts to join a new inner circle, that person usually loses ties with one of the two circles. 

You may be wondering, am I in an IC or an OC? Here’s how to tell:

Have you ever invited a friend to go see a movie, or hang out, and they invited all or any of their other friends to your event? If so, you’re on the outer circle. 

A good inner circle is unrestricted in a way, and has things like inside jokes. 

Generally people are mainly IC People or OC people. Inner circles people hangout with their inner circle friends if at all possible, and if now, they look to the outer circle, as a last resort. Outer circle friends on the other hand have a much smaller inner circle, consisting of one or 2 people, and can hang out with either IC friends or OC friends. 

You might be wondering where best friends fall in this category: They don’t. Best friends can be people you’ve known longer than your circle friends, and thus don’t fit into this category.

So now you know where you stand. Chances are you fit one of those two categories. You have a tight, close group of a few friends who are all friends with each other, and not much of anyone else, or you have many friends and get along great with all of them, but you’re not invited to much of their stuff, unless it’s one of your few close friends. 

Any questions?