The older I get, the more I appreciate my friends and the endless love and support they shower me with. The long night conversations about nothing and everything, the wild adventures in the middle of nowhere, the dance parties in the living room to music in languages we don't even understand, and the ability to sit in silence and know exactly what each person is thinking.

There is something about friendship at its purest form — when all the walls of insecurity are stripped down and there’s nothing left to show but flawed people with dreams and fears, that makes the relationship and bond you have with one another so strong. If there is something you should never take for granted, trust me, it’s those kinds of friendships.

I am lucky to have friends who accept me for who I am. Actually, I am lucky to have friends who have more confidence in who I am than I have in myself. Friends who build me up so often that it would be impossible for me to tear myself down. Sure, family is great and they are the foundation of everything you are, but your friends are the backbone of everything you will be. They are the ones who believe in your dreams when everyone else thinks you’re crazy, and the ones who gas you up when you need that extra bit of confidence.

Getting the opportunity to share your successes and even failures with a group of people who can read your entire mood by the drink you decide to order at dinner, is a love that exists without words. Getting together with your friends after a stressful work week to talk about everything that’s going on in your life allows you to step outside that toxic bubble of time pressures, deadlines, and your infamous “what if” mentality. Your friends have the ability to pull you out of that headspace and make life feel a lot more simple. It is important to surround yourself with people who humble you.

I am also lucky to have friends who support me no matter how awful my decisions are sometimes, and no matter how frustrated they are that I keep going back to the same things I swear I never would. You can judge how patient your friends are by seeing their reactions to you constantly going back to your ex that they can’t stand. There is an amazing feeling when you can rely on your friend to have your back, and when your friends are just as excited for new paths and journeys in your life as you are. There is no better feeling than popping a champagne bottle in your best friends new apartment, or cheersing at dinner to your friends job promotion. When you have supportive friends, every small achievement in life is a celebration, and I think that’s amazing.

Being able to talk to people who understand you, drive thousands of miles across the country in a Camaro and still manage to have the best time of their life with you, and know that whenever life gets a little too hard they’ll always be there to pick your head up and keep you going is an unfathomable feeling. Life is better when you have friends like mine, and I could never express how much I love and appreciate all that they are, and do for me.

In moments of weakness, it feels nice that your friends will be there for you to give you strength. In moments of doubt, it’s nice to know that your friends will always believe in you. And in all the moments that make up this ridiculously insane life, it’s nice to know that you have people to share those ridiculously insane moments with.