The companies that surround us can determine a lot of who we are. Good friends are always there, whether motivating us, encouraging us to be the best version of ourselves, or supporting us unconditionally.
Friendship is an essential relational aspect, surely one of the main foundations of societies, along with family and couples. Friends can be a source of confidence, well-being and security so great that it determines our personality.
Next we will delve into the topic of the importance of having friends, its benefits and how it develops throughout life
The importance of having friends: their different advantages
From a very young age to when we are older, friends are a fundamental part of our lives. Placing trust in other people constitutes the social fabric, since if we could not do it, society, as we know it today, could not be possible.
Regardless of its importance at a social level, the truth is that Forming friendships with other people is very beneficial for our mental health This is why the importance of having friends is so great.
We understand friendship as the close bond that is formed between two or more people. This type of relationships It must have as essential aspects trust, affection, loyalty, sympathy and respect shown by the members of the link reciprocally.
Friendship is one of the most significant emotional relationships you can have, along with family and couple relationships, which provides many benefits on a psychological level.
Of course, it is not always easy to make friends, but fortunately today there are many tools to meet people. For example, social networks and internet forums, as well as apps to make new friends. Looplan, for example, is one of the most used; It is a free application available for both Android and IOS, and it connects people who want to carry out similar plans as a group.
Benefits of friendship
Human beings are social animals. When we are born we need the care and emotional contact of other people to be able to develop well
As we grow and gain a little more independence to interact freely, we join different groups, choosing the people with whom we want to spend our free time.
Emotional well-being, self-esteem and self-concept
Having friends makes us feel integrated into these groups, in addition to providing us with great emotional value. By being part of our closest social environment we have the benefits of increased self-esteem and motivation
Real friends are those people to whom we can tell intimate and private information, trusting that they will not reveal it to third parties and that they will listen to us unconditionally. By sharing this information with them we relieve a little stress and emotional discomfort, giving us a little calm and peace of mind.
The simple fact of being heard, understood and loved usually acts as a good calmer on an emotional level It is clear that having a friend can provide us with a lot of emotional well-being, especially when the source of the discomfort is in other intimate and supposedly “safe” relationships, such as the family or partner.
In the opposite sense, seeing that there are people who trust us with their insecurities, worries, discomforts and negative emotions makes us feel valued, understanding that we can become a source of support for others. In this way our self-concept improves, as long as it is a functional friendship relationship without toxicities, betrayals or “bad vibes”.
Overcome difficult situations
Placing trust in a friend has a very important therapeutic component, since it helps us overcome moments of great difficulty such as grief, a breakup, unemployment or any other complicated situation
Be a better version of ourselves
Another benefit of having friends is that they can give us the push to leave vices behind or motivate us to start a great project. On many occasions, it is friends who motivate people to stop unhealthy habits such as smoking, drinking or having a sedentary life.
Good friends worry about the health of their friends. Thanks to this they can positively influence our decision making, making us more responsible and healthy or becoming more aware of our problems if there are any. They make us be a better version of ourselves.
It should also be said that friendship can be a double-edged sword, since it can make us make more risky decisions or, due to social pressure, acquire bad habits, something especially visible in adolescence and drug use.
Unconditional acceptance
The feeling of unconditional acceptance generates well-being. Being able to be yourself and see that others accept us generates a great feeling of security and appreciation. A true friend accepts us regardless of our personality or personal characteristics making us not have to pretend to be who we are not.
If we pretend to be someone we are not, we can suffer a very intense identity and self-esteem crisis, which will involve serious psychological damage.
Friendship throughout life
Friendships are important at all stages of life, not only in childhood and adolescence. As adults, both when you are young and when you are no longer, friendships can be essential emotional support. Next we are going to reflect on the importance of friendship throughout life.
Childhood
From a very young age, children form their first friendships Already in kindergarten and, above all, in school, you can see how children relate to others and, in many cases, create bonds that will last a lifetime. They will also establish bonds with other children who are in the park, children of their parents’ friends or neighbors.
It is very important that children are the ones who choose their friends and learn to bond with other people more or less freely. It often happens that parents select their children’s friends, either because they believe they can be a good influence or because they are the children of reliable friends and acquaintances. It is not bad to make children meet new children, but it is very important not to separate them from those friends they have already made
Likewise, it is very important to detect situations in which the child may be having a difficult time due to certain relationships, whether due to bullying or because they are bad influences, which cause them to deviate from their studies and have difficulties.
Adolescence is a critical period, and all parents know it because before becoming adults they had to go through it. Hormonal changes, conflicts with the main attachment figures are experienced, abstract thinking is achieved (Piaget’s formal operational thinking) and the first love relationships emerge.
We are experiencing a real identity crisis that, if handled poorly, will have consequences in adulthood Relationships with friends become very important and very intense friendships are formed, which can influence the still moldable personality of the individual and can lead to success or failure.
During this period, a friend can make us choose a course wisely, start high school studies or study for next week’s exam. But it can also influence us to try marijuana, drink alcohol, or skip class.
Adulthood and senescence
When you reach young adulthood you still suffer a bit of an identity crisis, but not as intense.
Likewise, friends are still very important, because It is in these years that we try to gain more independence, looking for an apartment, starting higher studies starting to work… These are times of economic and vital insecurity that, spending them with friends makes the difficulty not seen as so serious.
As we grow, our friendships are reduced to a select group of people with whom we trust a lot. Likewise, you can have new friendships throughout your life, some even in stages as advanced as old age. You are never too old to meet someone with whom you share a lot and with whom you can establish a very beautiful friendship
Conclusion
The importance of having friends is very significant, since it not only influences how we relate to others, integrating ourselves with society, but it also provides us with emotional well-being, increases self-esteem and self-concept and can allow us to alleviate negative emotions that, for example, We could not do other non-professional routes.
Friendships are especially important in childhood and adolescence, although in adulthood they can play a very important role in our personal success.
