Because We!Are!Your Friends! You'll never be alone Again!

Friendship

Lately I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the difference between actual friendships and friendships of convenience. It was only once I headed away from all the friendships I had made in California that I began to value them. Here in Dublin I’ve had yet another chance to look at what a friend really is.

Ultimately, a friend is someone who you can lean on for support and they can lean on you. It sounds simple, but that’s all there is to it. And yet, everyone needlessly complicates such a basic premise.Be there for you, I’ll be there for you. I know I’m not the best at forging relationships, but I’m still at quite a loss as to what actually creates lasting bonds. Is it just an innate compatibility among friends? Is it a unique shared experience that binds people together? Or is it something… more?
The best of friends are those who understand me. In other words, they can parse out the bullshit from reality, and force me to deal with issues and events that may otherwise remain buried. I can say whatever I want to them and they won’t get offended or bitchy; instead they’ll throw it right back.
Friendship is not an unwillingness to sacrifice even a second of your time for a friend. It is not the pointless “how was your day?” and “fine” conversations that loveless marriages are made out of. It is not going out together many nights in a row. It is not judging someone time and time again for little reason than spite. It is not an an inability to recognize when friends are going through a rough time.

Friendship is sacrificing time for a friend, because they need you. It is the 2 a.m. conversations where all is laid bare. It is spending a minute, a day, a month with them merely because you know that it’ll be a good night as long as they’re with you. It is dispensing objective advice without scorn, even though it is likely that said advice will never be followed. It is an unconscious ability and willingness to
ask, “what’s wrong” even if they’re aren’t shouting their feelings from the rooftops.

Friendships are what they are. Hold on to the ones you have, and try and nurture a few more while you’re at it. Life is too short to waste on lifeless nights, dull conversations, and false friends.