I’ve always been taught that people come into your life for a reason, a season, and a lifetime. However, I think every one of my friends have come into my life to teach me a lesson. Through my friends, I have learned how to be who I am today and I couldn’t thank them enough for this new found knowledge.
First off, I am an only child. Learning to talk to others through your parents isn’t exactly the best life lesson. Siblings are great for building a backbone and for talking to people who aren’t going to love you unconditionally or don’t have as much patience as your parents. In my case, I did not have that. Instead, my friends were there to tell me not to take everything so personally. Sometimes other people are cranky or just rude and I need to let them be.
Second, they taught me how to have proper, big girl arguments and work them out. Living in a house for the majority of my teenage years with just my mom, it was almost better to say sorry and move on. However, nothing was ever resolved that way.
When I first moved off campus into a four bed/ four bath apartment with my friends, you HAD to talk about the issues. We were all friends and if one of us was upset with the other, you could just feel the negativity. So, I learned how to put my emotions into words that others can receive in order to work out the problem and not have loose ends.
Third, is that I can be an absolute mess and they will love me anyways. Having to please your parents, significant other, and teachers is a huge strain. But your friends laugh at you and then love on you when you are an idiot and just can’t get it together.
Fourth, is that people change and you change as well, but that is OK. Just like boys sometimes, you might just not be friends with someone anymore because they change. It isn’t anything personal, but sometimes the person you need in your life is not them anymore. Either your values, morals, or things of interest change and the friendship doesn’t go on. But just like a breakup, you can still take something away from that friendship.
Finally, I learned that being me is all I need to be. If your friends don’t encourage you to be exactly the way you are, you need some new friends! Yes, your friends might challenge and encourage you to do better, but your friends should love you for you. That is how I found myself, by having friends to teach me self love and hold my hands through the scary parts of becoming a better version of myself every day.