There is a vast difference between the person I was in high school and the person I am today. Coming from a girl who did whatever she could to fit in and have as many friends possible; listen to me when I say the quality of your friendships beats the quantity of friends you have.
To the person reading this who cares deeply about their status at their high school, I understand. I understand wanting to be the most “popular.” But what does that word even mean? I thought it meant being the person with the most friends, and having everyone like you. So that’s how I spent the majority of my high school years, putting effort into empty friendships. These are friendships where you don’t get anything back from the person in return, but you continue trying to make the friendship work. These are friendships where the person does not care about you or anything going on in your life, but you feel as if you need this friendship in order to feel fulfilled. And these are the friendships involving people who make you feel bad about yourself, rather than people who do the exact opposite.
When putting “popular” in these terms, it doesn’t make sense that some people strive to be this. I question myself all the time as to why I cared so much about having these friendships that didn’t benefit my life whatsoever, or why I spent so much of my time with people who didn’t want me there.
But now that I’ve learned this lesson, I spend my free time with a smaller group of friends that make me feel good about myself, care about me, and people who just genuinely want the best for me. It’s such an uplifting feeling to have a group of friends that I can be my complete self around, and never having to second guess if they’re judging me. I’ve surrounded myself with the most accepting, loyal and kindest people. The air I breathe feels fresher, and I’m overall a much happier person.
I encourage you, if you're the person I was a few years ago, to take this message into perspective and do some realization of who your real friends are. Because once you get rid of these empty friendships, I promise your life will change for the better.
