The Truth About Friendship

You know I love sharing about the best deals and my favorite tips for time management, and I think these topics are so fun! But every once in a while, I like to go just a bit deeper and share how I’m feeling or things that have been on my heart. I know that reading other blog posts help me feel less alone, no matter what I’m going through, so I hope that this post can provide some encouragement to you too! Today I’m talking about the truth about friendship – those beautiful, joyful connections that we can easily turn into sources of insecurity. 

“There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” Thomas Aquinas 

How often do we hear about “life-giving friendships”? This phrase pops up in Instagram captions, on Facebook posts, and in daily conversations as our coworkers and acquaintances describe their friends. For the past few months, I’ve been praying for lifegiving friendships, but last week, a random thought popped into my head: 

“What about a friendship makes it lifegiving?” 

Is it the amount of Instagram posts you both post, talking about how much of a blessing you are in each other’s lives? Is it the beautiful, candid laughing pictures at picture-perfect coffee shops? 

What if it’s none of those things? As wonderful as I think social media is, I know that I constantly compare myself to what I see from other people. There have been so many times that I’ve sat alone in my campus chapel praying for lifegiving friendships, only to leave to meet a friend for coffee or to find a text from a friend who needed advice. The lifegiving friendships I completely wanted were there all along, I just couldn’t see past the bright-white-Instagram-filtered world I surround myself in. 

Our friendships will look different in every season of life we find ourselves in. Maybe you’re in high school and you feel like no one around you could possibly understand how you feel. Or, maybe it’s your senior year and you’ve finally found the people who get you, but graduation is coming soon. You could be a college student with plans every day but a random feeling of loneliness. Trust me, I’ve been in your shoes. 

So, here’s my challenge to you.

Instead of scrolling your Instagram feed and wishing to be someone else, look at the friendships you do have. They may not be picture-perfect, but truthfully, nothing is. When I look back over the past few years, my favorite moments with friends haven’t been the ones that made it on Instagram. They’re the moments that we go for late night McDonald’s runs and talk for hours in the car, the times that we watch Vines and laugh until we’re crying, the nights that we burn cookies. These memories may not make it on my social media, but they remind me what true, lifegiving friends are.

Thanks, as always, for reading. If you’re in need of someone to talk to, remember that I’m here for you! 

xoxo, Cecilia