3) Know How To Make Friends

The decision to enter politics is a lonely one. Only you can decide that ceding your privacy, free time, and a corner of your sanity is worth the investment. But, once you’ve made the choice, make certain you have friends who will tell you the truth about yourself and challenge the truths you hold dear. They are the ones who will show you consistency of thought and clarity of rationale. They are the ones who you know have beliefs, and who you can trust understand the difference between political theater and reality.Friendship is the first step to collaboration, to the joint exercise that creates the only times in which politics really works. In my job, I am supposed to fight with the Republican speaker of the House, but some of my fondest and most effective moments are the ones that begin when we call each other “my friend.” We don’t say this cynically, but in recognition of a longer history that will survive after the battle of the moment.The ability to share credit, to share ideas, and to share pain bolster the exercise of politics. I am made better because of the friends I have who despise politics, and by those who subsist on little else. Both groups draw me to a center where I never forget that politics is what I do. It is not who I am.As your own star rises, you’ll reach for the memory of where it all began. Look no further than the people who know you, who love you. They will remind you to be kind, to be thoughtful, to be brave. They will negotiate with your certainty. They will vote for your bills. And they will see in you what you first saw in yourself: a person who wants to do right by others.A person ready to serve. Stacey Abrams is House minority leader for the Georgia General Assembly, and state representative for Georgia's 89th House District. The views expressed here are her own.