"As we grow up, we realize it is less important to have lots of friends and more important to have real ones." - Unknown

From a young age we all believe that having a million friends is what defines our popularity and happiness. We easily get caught up in how many friends we have on Facebook and followers on Instagram or Twitter, but just how many of those people are actually our friends? Are these the people you turn to when you get good news? Are they the people whose shoulder you cry on when you receive bad news? If the answer is no, they are not your friends. So how do you define a real friend? Simple. A real friend is a person that can hear you when you are quiet. The person who when you are going through a hard time, or make a mistake, is still around. Friendships are no different that romantic relationships in the sense that, they have to handle you at your worst in order to enjoy you at your best.

I once heard that life is kind of like a party. You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up late. But in the end, after the fun, there are a few who stay to help you to clean up the mess. And most of the time they aren't even the ones that made the mess. These people are your real friends. They are the ones who matter most.

This message really stuck with me and gave me a new perspective on life. It encouraged me to turn my "extra" friends into acquaintances and hold my friends that "helped stay to clean up the mess", closer to my heart. Finding your real friends is no easy task. It takes a lot of heartache, tears, some laughter and some loneliness and some LIFE, to be able to put together your group of people. But I know for sure when you find this group of people, your laughs will get louder and hurt your stomach more, your tears will become less as now you have someone to dry them, and your life will become much more fulfilled as you will no longer be lonely.

Ultimately life is all about being real and sometimes the realest people don't have a lot of friends. But if you can unfollow people on your social media, why not unfollow them in real life? Think of making your group of people as similar to when you make your greatest hits playlist that you'll listen to all summer. When you listen to music you may not stick to one genre. You may open the playlist with some Beyonce, transition into Dave Matthews, speed it up with some Kenny Chesney, slow it down to John Mayer and before you know it you are in your feelings again with Drake. On the topic of friendship, sometimes our greatest friends may not be from the same group of friends. You may have a few at school, a few at home and a few from where-ever you spend your summers. But just like making our playlist, we have listened to a million songs (people we have met) and through the good and the bad, we have ultimately created our playlist (our group of people). This group of people may all have different quirks, memories, and jokes but their qualities of a friend are straight across the board.

So remember, if you have not found this group of people yet, maybe your party is still going on. Maybe the music is still playing and the drinks are still flowing. Just know the party will come to the end and when it does, it will all have been worth it.