How many of you have promised a friend that you'd do something, then kept putting it off until you completely forgot about it? Maybe it wasn't anything major. Maybe you just kept forgetting to return your friend's pen. Maybe you said you'd watch a video your friend sent you "later," and then completely forgot about it. Maybe you left a message on Facebook as "seen" when you were busy and then forgot to respond, hours or even days later.

None of these seem like that big of a deal. With so many things going on in our lives, what does it matter if a pen never gets returned, a video never gets watched, a message stays as "seen"?

I'm here to tell you: it matters.

This isn't the kind of thing that will suddenly and dramatically worsen someone's life.

But it is the kind of thing that adds up over time, that wears on a person's self-esteem and maybe makes them doubt how much they matter to their friends.

Instances like these have happened to me countless times over the past few years. It's gotten to the point where I've grown to accept that the most I'm probably going to get from a group chat when I share a story or photo or link is a halfhearted response (that will probably involve the chat's equivalent of a thumbs-up emoji) from some of the people whom I consider my closest friends.

That's why I became probably way happier than what would be considered normal when, after getting turned down by a couple of my closest friends, one of my other friends actually watched a TV show that I'm currently obsessed with. In fact, she didn't just watch it — she binge watched all of the currently aired episodes and ended up sleeping at 5 a.m.

I know I'm guilty of this myself.

So next time, take a few minutes to really respond to your friend.

You don't know how big of a difference it can really make.