Everyone is guilty of using the term “best friend.” The term singles out one or two individuals you care about the most, spend the most time with, and specify as your “top friend.” All your other friends are just regular friends. They are there but you don’t care to spend every second with them. You don’t care to share your life too much with them. And they do not frequent your Instagram pics, even though you might frequent theirs. These people won’t be in your bridal party. They are only in your life 10 percent to 30 percent of the time while the rest of your time is dedicated to your best friend. Those other friends will always get pushed to the curb to make room for friend number one.
There is nothing wrong with this at all! Well, if you want to be that super annoying person. The person no one wants to really be friends with because it’s always about their best friend and you will never be truly important to them. When you see such a duo, a natural instinct might be to run away. If you are reading this, you are most likely old enough to realize how to be mature to some degree. You have a somewhat large friend group, more than a few people. But the number one sign that you are not actually mature is using the term “best friend.”
Call the person whatever you want, but nothing irks a mature person like someone constantly saying, “I’m going to the mall with my best friend” or canceling plans because their best friend wants to do something. That’s does not make anyone want to be friends with you to begin with. Being the “not best friend” in a bestie duo is like someone smashing an ice cream cone in your face and yelling “bye Felicia.” Thanks for that.
We naturally single out people who are most like us and we want to spend the most time with but that does not mean we have to publicize it constantly and introduce that person as friend number one. We do not have to dedicate every waking second to this person and sock it to everyone else, because that’s ugly. I do my best to never use the term but when I do I’m typically talking about my dog, and that does not count. There are exceptions to the rule, I guess. I have a small group of my closest friends and that’s what I call them. No one is above anyone else, but it’s my inner circle. Everyone should have an inner circle and leave it at the title of “inner circle,” respectively.
Dropping the term from your vocabulary has a lot to do maturity and respect for others. Love your friends all you want but be nice to others because, seriously, no one wants to be friends with the person who is obsessed with their best friend. It should not be offensive to anyone if you equally distribute your time and activities with people in your friend group. That’s all I’m saying.
