Some parts of the world are gearing up to celebrate Thanksgiving. In the USA, Brazil, Liberia and other places this holiday falls on the 26th November, whereas our friends over in Canada already celebrated this back on the 12th October this year. Other countries, such as Germany and Japan also celebrate similar holidays around a similar time of year. In line with that, although Australia doesn’t technically celebrate, I thought it was a good excuse to write a post about all the benefits of friendships and reasons to be grateful for them… not that I need an excuse!
1. Friendships provide a safe place to be your completely unfiltered true self. This allows us to melt and vent some of the stress away and usually also includes some sort of refreshing beverage too!
2. Friendships offer a heart-warming sense of acceptance, connection, comradery and belonging. Because friendship is a voluntary relationship there is something so special about being “chosen.”
3. Friends are fun! Sometimes we all get bogged down in the day to day of work, responsibilities, domestic and caring duties, that we forget to prioritise the things we want to do and the people we want to spend more time with! 9 times out of 10 these people are our friends because we have the most fun with them. Doesn’t matter if you are on a night out or a night in, sharing an activity or a meal or just talking, chances are you will be smiling more than normal!
4. Friendships expose us to new ideas, concepts, opinions, cultures and beliefs. They encourage our personal development, to challenge ourselves and to grow beyond our comfort zone. They help shape the people we choose to become as we develop a separate individual identity outside of our family and upbringing.
5. Many studies have proven a link between the amount of friendships we have and overall life span. Friendships have so many health benefits, physically, mentally and emotionally they could be our literal life lines!
6. Friends can motivate us through their own successes and similarly we can learn vicariously from each-others mistakes too. If you think of life like one of those choose an ending story books, friends are the people who take a separate path to yours, and tell you how it worked out for them and if they recommend it for you.
7. Feeling included instead of isolated. Feeling validated instead of unseen or unheard or misunderstood. Feeling cared about, important and liked. These feelings improve our self esteem and encourage our self-worth. They help give us the confidence we need to make decisions and friendships also offer the security and support to know we can deal with any negative consequences of those decisions.
8. Friends can be useful! Two heads are better than one, as are four hands better than 2! Need help baking 100 cupcakes for the school bake sale tomorrow? How about help moving house? Friends often provide this practical or mental support to solve our problems for no other reason that they care and they can. They want to help us, and often make the task at hand much more enjoyable or at least less stressful at the same time.
9. Friends make life more interesting. We experience life through them as much as we experience it firsthand. We hear tales of travels and other careers. We learn interesting facts, meet interesting new people and experience new foods, activities and traditions through them. The mental stimulation they provide helps keep our brains sharper and our empathy stronger.
10. Friends bring out the best in us, and make us overall better people. Remember that the key to having great friends is being a great friend! Great friends are hard to come by, so hold on to the ones you have and tell them they are what you are grateful for this thanks giving, wherever you are from and whatever you believe or celebrate. You don’t need a reason!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating this year. I am grateful for you reading this blog! Thanks!!
❤ Love,
Your Best Friend ForNever
xx
