the.com/support network
The people you'd call at 3am, minus the ones who'd just ask why you're calling.
means The circle of people who actually show up for you emotionally or practically, as opposed to the ones who merely occupy space in your contacts list.
from A modern compound, not an ancient word: 'support' traces to Latin supportare, 'to carry or bring up from below,' while 'network' began as a literal term for netted fabric before social scientists in the 20th century stretched it to mean webs of human relationships. Stitch the two together and you get a fairly recent coinage from therapy and social-work vocabulary — the idea of people as load-bearing structure, holding you up the way a net holds weight.
- size myth
- quality beats headcount, five real ones beat fifty contacts
- maintenance
- decays silently if never tested until crisis reveals gaps
- reciprocity rule
- one-way support networks quietly become ex-networks
- best proof
- who shows up unasked, not who replies to texts