Best Friends are Life’s Purpose
design: Jackie Mirvis
The People You’d Choose in Every Lifetime.
by ava robbins ★ october 22, 2024
Not everyone will hold your hair for you while you throw up and offer you their lip gloss that same night, but the right friend will. It is a psychological and scientific fact that those with close friendships lead happier and healthier lives. When something good happens to you, you want to tell your best friend, and when something bad happens to you, you want to tell your best friend. Whether it's a friend from grade school, one you met on the first day of college classes, or anyone in between, best friends are one of the greatest joys in life.
Sometimes people use the word, “found family” to describe this special relationship. The people in your life that make the busy and anxious noise quiet. The ones who make you shed happy tears after reuniting and sad tears when you have to say goodbye again. It’s necessary to have these people because they give you a sense of belonging and an emotional support outlet. It's difficult to articulate just how special best friendship is- it’s the feeling that even if no one else in the world understood me, you still would.
It’s important to evaluate your friendships: are they serving you? True friends will listen to you complain about the same situation a million times, but also help give you a reality check when you really need it. True friends don’t make you feel bad about yourself or like you need to make yourself smaller. If a friendship isn't serving you- helping you grow, find joy, and be successful, it might be time to move on.
The thing about best friends is that ultimately, they don’t owe you anything. Parents, brothers and sisters are some of the most important people, but to some extent they have to love you. Your best friends don’t have to do anything. They make the conscious decision each day to love you; to venmo you money for McDonald’s when you’re sad, to edit your essays because their eyes are better than yours, to bring you back a donut after class, to answer the phone at 2 am even though they’re hundreds of miles away, and to send you videos whenever they hear your favorite song out in public. If you haven't done so yet today, I urge you to tell your best friends that you love them. If you’re lucky enough to be in the same place, hug them tight, and if you’re not, send them the biggest virtual hug! You have to make sure you’re surrounding yourself with people you’d choose in every lifetime if you could. I know I’d pick my best friends over and over again.