Friendships: Discover the influence that friendships have on your life

Friendships: Discover the influence that friendships have on your life. How many times have you heard the phrase “you are like the people around you”? Well, this phrase is entirely accurate. The human being is sociable by nature and always hangs out with people with whom it has some similarities, according to their tastes, needs, specific characteristics, etc.

This article will discover the influence that friendships have on your life and how much they can affect you. In this way, you will select your friends better and surround yourself with those who help you and encourage you to become successful.

But first, why is it important to have friends? The influence of friendships 

From childhood to the last stage of the life cycle, friends are an essential part of people’s daily lives.

In some literature books, the authors have highlighted the importance of friendship. We can see this in old books “Don Quixote de la Mancha” as in some more modern, such as the Harry Potter saga. There are also many films in which friendship has been the main component, such as “Count on me,” the “Toy Story” saga, Cinema Paradiso, or series such as “The Big Bang Theory” or “How I Met your mother.” Although, without a doubt, the best friendships are the real ones.

How do your friends influence your personality? The influence of friendships 

Human beings are social beings. As we grow, we belong to different groups and choose whom to spend free time with. Having friends encourages the sense of belonging to these groups, which brings excellent emotional value to the person since feeling integrated into our closest environment usually directly relates to increased self-esteem and motivation.

In addition, being able to trust your friends, telling them private information that you want to share with them, in most cases, contributes to stress relief. Feeling heard, understood, and loved is often a good “pain reliever” for “emotional pain.”

Being able to place trust in a friend also helps overcome those more complicated situations that a person may experience, such as grief, a breakup, or losing a job. It is therapeutic to share difficult moments with someone who supports and encourages you, connecting on a deeper level.

Friends can help you change unhealthy lifestyle habits. Some studies show that most times, it is friends who motivate change in the face of unhealthy lifestyle habits such as, for example, drinking, smoking, and doing more physical exercise.

A friend who cares about the health status of the other person can promote an awareness of this problem since sometimes it’s difficult to realize it yourself. Likewise, it also serves as a source of motivation to start an action plan together, for example, going out for physical exercise.

A friend’s influence can be so significant sometimes in the opposite way to those mentioned earlier. It can influence and incite negative behaviors. This occurs mainly in adolescence and childhood, and to a lesser extent in adulthood and old age.

Returning to the positive plane, the feeling of unconditional acceptance is a generator of well-being. This refers to feeling that you are yourself in your highest essence, hiding no characteristic of your personality that you consider you may not like.

Some studies argue that a strong emotional bond of friendship makes it easier for the other person to express everything they feel both cognitively and emotionally, which sometimes exists when expressing certain emotions and thoughts in a relationship or even family.

How do I make good friends who add positive value to my life? The influence of friendships 

In all stages of life, it is crucial to establish and maintain friendly ties for all the benefits mentioned above. Although new friendships are indeed built throughout the life experience, it becomes more complicated as the person goes through stages, essentially due to two factors: less availability of free time and because people become “more selective” when it comes to time to link.

Besides the difficulties just mentioned, it is worth noting the obstacles we may encounter in making friends, given the type of society we live in. These obstacles affect making friends at any stage of life. Thanks to the development of some online applications, it is straightforward to talk with those who are further away. However, these same apps can generate more difficulty when establishing deeper ties of friendship with closer ones. Especially in the adolescent stage, new technologies can develop severe problems of interrelation among young people.

According to the sociologist Zygmunt Bauman: In liquid modernity, everything is unstable: love, work, politics, and friendship. The concept “liquid modernity” refers to today’s society’s changing, volatile, and constant state. We experience many changes in a short time. As far as close links are concerned, it can be straightforward to have many “friends” on social networks such as Facebook or “followers” on other types of networks such as Instagram. However, through these means of communication, it is difficult to reach “human warmth.” It is difficult to establish a natural bond.

For all the benefits as mentioned above and in conclusion, it is essential to highlight the importance of forming friendships of quality and enjoying them despite the difficulties that may arise along the way. Establishing and maintaining this type of emotional bond can be one of the best guarantors of happiness and well-being.

Conclusions

Now that you have discovered the influence that friendships have in your life, you can better choose your circle of friends to surround yourself with people who add positive value to your life and drive you to be a better person every day.