Updated: Jun 19, 2021
My friends have always been a very integral part of my life. Over the years, the numbers have dwindled but the ones left are friends for life.
As a kid, I was able to make friends with ease. Maybe, because I had less inhibitions and insecurities. I remember making 5 friends in prep-school when I was about 4 years old. It is not a surprise that I am still friends with all of them but I do not really
remember the last time I spoke to them. This got me thinking, what actually made many of my friendships distant and some redundant. (Fun Fact: one among those 5 people is my best friend today and over all these years we have never for once lost touch despite of studying in different schools, colleges and now living in different cities.)
I think adult life, ambitions and dreams take us to places where we end
up surviving on our own. At the same time, I think that this physical
distance should not come in the way of the friends that we make on our
way.
I know a lot of people who tend to focus only on the people who are physically
around them. This does not mean that they have forgotten you, it is just that they’ve
been busy. I do not follow this notion but neither am I against it. You see, getting
old has broken a lot of my notions on how things should be and one of them is
relationships between friends.
This brings me to the most important part of of my thought. Sit back and think, how
many times have you really spoken to a friend who once was so close to you that you
would spend days with them. I know we cannot live off nostalgia but are you really that busy that you cannot pick up the phone and call them on their birthdays (I absolutely abhor birthday wishes on Whatsapp and social media).
Many a times we think about few of our friends but we hardly ever reach out to them.
Sure, we follow them on all available social media pages and like all of their pictures
and sometimes leave a comment. There is nothing wrong with that ! You know the
hard truth, that what we see on social media is also a lie. We lie to ourselves and we
lie to the world about our never ending happiness. This has forced me to think, how I
have failed to reach out to my friends and checking up to see if they are doing well.
Honestly, I hardly do this with about 3 friends right now but I intend to inculcate this
in my life.