How to Tell if a Friend or Partner Is a Leaf, a Tree, or a Root

In your tree of life, it is important to determine who the leaves, branches, and roots are.Source: Photo by Jeremy Bishop/PexelsWhen the going gets tough, will your friend or partner (whether romantic or professional) leave? Will that person branch at adversity? Or will he or she stay rooted with you? That's a big question, because leaves in your life are a dime a dozen, branches are common, but roots are a lot rarer and should be cherished. You'll find a number of posts or even some tree-tises on social media and other parts of the Internet using this parts-of-a-tree metaphor to describe the different types of people you'll encounter in your life. A friend shared an Instagram post relaying this concept with me recently. The post essentially divided people into the following three categories:Leaf People: These are people who enter your life for only a season. Do not depend or count on them, since their attachment to you is fairly weak and they fall away once things get windy or turn co...