Growing up, I saw so many fellow classmates surround themselves by so many friends. I, for one, was not like that. I didn't have friends out the wazoo like those other people did. And back when I was a young, impressionable naive middle schooler, I started to get sad and upset, because I didn't have the amount of friends that my classmates had.

One of the best parts of growing up and being in your early 20's is that you start to discover yourself. You start to realize things that maybe you have never realized before, and start to come to conclusions that you never thought you would come to.

While being 21-22, I realized that having a small group of friends is probably one of the best things for me. A person once told me this: "What would you rather? 3 friends, you can depend on? or 30 friends who see you as being disposable.

While in middle and high school, I answered that question by saying "oh I'd rather have many friends" not realizing that having that many friends leave you vulnerable to hurt, pain, and anguish. I, by nature, wear my heart on my sleeve. If I get to know someone really well, I tend to trust that person with things that I probably shouldn't trust them with. But, that is how I am as a person.

When it comes to having friends. I have about 3-5 friends I talk to on a daily basis. Do I need more than that?Absolutely not? Those 5 friends are like my family to me, and that little group is all I need to be happy. Since I have my core group of 5 amazing friends, I don't need to have 30 superficial friends. I don't need all those people who say they are going to be my friends, but when the going gets tough, they run away.

Facebook, for example, is a place where people befriend people just for the sake of having more friends. Who, in all reality knows over 1,000 people personally? No one. I have someone who I know who has exactly 2,108 friends on the site. First of all, who needs 2,100 friends? Are you that lonely that you need that huge number to look at? Second, how many of those so-called friends actually like what you post or reply back to messages you send them? I bet that is 1/4th of those 2,108 friends... or maybe even less.

Having a huge number of friends on social media doesn't define who you are. If you have a few close friends that you can trust your whole life with, then that's all that matters. If you have over 2,000 friends on a social media website, it makes me feel bad for you. Why? because it looks like, to me, that all you care about is numbers and how people will be impressed by how many friends you have. To be honest, no one is impressed more than likely

When it comes to having and keeping friends, keep one thing in mind: "quality over quantity."