If you’re here, you either have no friends or you’re a social butterfly and have tons. Safe to say I fit none of these categories.
Society loves promoting relationships but mostly focus on romantic ones. The value of platonic friendship is undermined yet it’s so powerful.
There are increasingly more movies showcasing friendship like “Booksmart” or “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” and “Hidden Figures” all of which showcase supportive friendships. Although there are movies about platonic friendship most focus on an end goal of a romantic relationship.
Friendship can be defined differently for most people. I’ve always had a tough time defining a friend. I’ve realized that as much as I want to call everyone a friend, it is not wise. I can’t call every person I’ve met in the middle of the night and be vulnerable. I can’t tell them how I’m feeling, or the variety of issues going on at home, or how I’m scared to keep going. Honestly, I’m not sure why I spew all my feelings online, I hope my future employer doesn’t see this, but I hope you take something from this.
Although I don’t have many close friendships, the ones I do, are timeless and pure gems. I don’t need to talk to my friends every day, we can go weeks without saying a word but when we get together it’s as if nothing changed. Frankly, my friends are better than me, and I love it. They enjoy things I hate, they like math for example. Who likes that? My friends do. They listen to country music, and now I listen to it too because it’s really good. I mean they help cows give birth, how cool? They paint so beautifully; they have beautiful voices that echo in large rooms and make you want to sing. They are hard workers who know so much about business and know something cool about every topic. They are bold and courageous; they are strong women who have experienced pain but refuse to succumb to it. They teach me to be more kind and more empathetic and simmer down the pride. They taught me to speak my native language without fear, they taught me not to be ashamed. In the long time we have been friends they’ve never given up on me even when I wanted to.
My past, present and hopefully future friendships add value and are important to me. Although I haven’t always been a perfect friend, I take accountability for my actions and I’m so thankful for their love and patience.