A “best friend” is not a term to joke around with. If you’re like me, then you can count your true friends on one hand. That’s not sad, that’s good. From the words of my life guru, Mindy Kaling, a best friend isn’t a person, it’s a tier. Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of friends: I’m cool, I go out, I meet people. But I would never toss out the term “best friend” to just anyone.
You’re probably thinking to yourself, “This poor girl, she has no friends. She probably sits alone in her room all day and just watches TV.” Well, I would say thank you for the judgment (I do in fact watch a lot of TV alone, but that is by choice), but I’m actually fine with my small friend group. In fact, I actually prefer it. I grew up in a small community and went to an even smaller school. There was one other girl in my grade. Yep, you heard that right - there were only two of us. So the friends I made there and grew up with, they’re like family. I’ve picked up a few more best friends in my post-high school years, but the group has always been very small and, should I say, exclusive.
One of the best parts of having a small friend group is you only have to deal with the drama of a few people. As we all know, girls can get a little intense. If you have a huge friend group, this drama increases exponentially and can quickly become unruly, crisscrossing in so many directions that you don’t even know which side you’re on anymore. If you only have a few close friends, you can pull one friend aside and say, “Hey, you’re being crazy, calm down.” Obviously, it’s not that simple, but you know what I mean. When you have a small friend group, you won’t let drama destroy it. After so many years, you become a super-group, and drama can’t even touch you.
Another great thing about having a small, close-knit group of friends is the planning. We all know making plans with other people is the worst--even making plans with one other person can be hell on earth. When you have a huge group of friends, it’s useless. You might as well not even try to make plans to get together. It will never happen. There is no way everyone in the group will be able to organize themselves, so you end up with just a partial crew and that’s not fun. But when you have a small friend group, you can at least pretend that the planning will come together. When you’re only inviting five people, it’s much more likely that everyone will find a way to make it work.
But the best thing about having a small friend group is the type of friends that you have. Because the group is smaller, everyone invests more in each relationship, and the relationships become deep and lasting. These friends are like your family (but more like the family you wish you had). You can go to them for anything and they will always do whatever they can to be there.
Sure, you probably don’t live in the same place, but with Whatsapp, Skype and FaceTime, it’s like they’re right there even when they are across the globe. You don’t have to worry if you don’t talk for a while (although that’s not really a problem because when is there ever a time when your group message isn’t going crazy), because when you do see them or talk to them, it’s like no time has passed at all. These are your people, they’re with you through thick and thin. They’ll love you and you’ll love them because they’re your best friends, and I have to say, I wouldn’t give up my small friend group for anything.
