The Incredible Value of Friendship
“A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.” ~ Author Donna Roberts
The ability to experience friendship is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Individuals who are fortunate to have friends in their lives often enjoy a longer, more satisfied life. Both mental and physical health benefits can be attributed to friendship. Diagnoses such as depression, high blood pressure and unhealthy BMI are more prevalent when isolation or lack of social engagement is noted in an individual’s life.
What are the tricks to establishing value-added friendships; the type of relationships that are more than just meeting for lunch? Making friends with common interests, share values, mutual acceptance and growth and one’s whose company generates happiness, isn’t always easy.
In this three-part blog series, we’ll explore the benefits of friendships, how to establish a good, friendly relationship and how to keep it. Our first segment focuses of the benefits of having friends in your life.
It is not a matter of the quantity of friends in your life, but the quality. When you have a close friend or group of friends, the benefits are many:
- Having a friend can result in stress reduction.
- Sharing a friendship minimizes feelings of isolation or loneliness.
- Friends can build your sense of self-worth and confidence.
- Friends can help you cope when times are difficult such as dealing with grief, trauma, life changes or emotional challenges.
- Friendship widens your world and life experiences.
Although the benefits are many, finding and keeping friends is not always easy. We’ll explore some ideas to help in upcoming blogs.