How Friendship Has Changed

I feel a little weary posting this, and have honestly had it sitting in my drafts for quite some time. After reading one of my favorite bloggers Life To Lauren’s post about friendship I figured hey why not, so here we are today.

If it’s all right with you I’d like to get a little “in the feels” today over at The Blonder Life. Let’s just get right into it.

Friendship is one of my favorite things about life. That may seem so over-the top, but it really is. I try to be the best friend I can be, and love finding those people who eventually become sisters.

Lately, I have found myself becoming more selfish about friendships, in that if I feel I am the only one reciprocating a relationship then I will not continue to pursue that friendship. Ladies, it’s so much healthier to keep those who genuinely love YOU for YOU in your life. Trust me.

I have not always been like this, though.

All throughout schooling I had this mindset that in order to be happy, and to have the best version of my life I needed a huge group of friends. To me, I would rather have a bunch of girls I really only talked to at school, then maybe 2-3 girls I spent every second with. Silly, I know. But try telling 14-year-old Jamie that. 

Not at all saying I had awful friends, because I didn’t. I was so lucky to have the girls I did in high school, and they made life so fun!

(Here is an embarrassing high school photo)

In high school I finally found that “huge” group of friends I had always wanted. I basically hung out with the same group of girls all four years of high school because we all cheered together, and it was a lot of fun having that many “best friends”. It was so nice to always have someone to spend every waking hour of the weekends with, and I knew I would have at least one friend in all seven of my classes.

Eventually high school ended, and our big group of friends went separate ways and broke off.

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Okay so back to why I originally wrote this post.

College taught me that my desire for a million friends was unrealistic, and just not emotionally satisfying for a lack of better words.

College is where I made my strongest friendships, and lost a few friendships all alike. Basically, going away to college taught me to really hold onto those true, real friendships. I think college really showed me who I could actually count on, and who would be around when it was convenient. Most of my best friends went off to out of state colleges, and we would only see each other maybe two to three times during the school year! That made things tough, but also made things pretty great. It showed me who I could go months without seeing, or even talking to, and still pick up right where we left off when we were finally together.

College really showed me who would pick their boyfriend over me, and who would only contact me on my birthday. But at the same time showed me who would drop everything to FaceTime me when I just needed a friend, and who would drive out of state just to watch me graduate college.

So what I’m getting at is, quality over quantity people. I never really cared about that saying and just pushed it aside as another cliché thing your mom tells you. But I am so thankful for the few, strong friendships I have made, and kept throughout the years. Friendship is such an awesome thing- it’s your way of picking family.

If you’re not feeling a friend putting in all the effort you are, or if you’re feeling a lot of negativity from someone it might be best to let that person go. It is so much healthier to keep those close friends you can consistently count on!

Thanks for sitting through that, and I hope you are still here. I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on friendships and even experiences that taught you something.