Why You Need Friendship And Love
Healthy, loving friendships with other human beings can be powerful and enrich your life in numerous ways. Not only can they offer emotional support, but they can also contribute to positive physical and mental health benefits.
Below, we’ll explore friendship, love, and ways that both can have a positive impact on your mental and physical health.
What is friendship?
Friendship tends to be a mutually positive, respectful, and trust-based connection with another human being. When two people are truly friends with one another, they tend to care about one another's feelings, enjoy spending time together, and have similar interests and outlooks. Friends can also be unique and have differences of opinion, but friends are often more alike than they are different, even if this likeness is not readily apparent.
When you have a strong friendship with someone, you tend to accept them for who they are, and they tend to accept you. This reciprocity usually involves not trying to change a person or mold them into something they are not. Friends often cherish and appreciate a person's quirks instead of resenting them or attempting to alter their personality.
Strong friendships in life can sometimes broaden your horizons and help you grow and see things from a perspective other than your own. Friendships can also expose you to different experiences and cultures. Friends can often help you believe in yourself, stay positive during tough times, and remember all that you are capable of achieving.
What is love?
Love can come in many forms and has often been described as one of the most profound emotions that people experience in life. Many people who have experienced love for another person have found love to be life-changing and monumental. Individuals who experience romantic love often enjoy spending time with their significant other, experiencing intimacy, and being part of a union.
Like friendship, love can be a powerful and life-changing feeling. Love often involves caring deeply for someone and wanting what is best for them. Love tends to be different from lust, infatuation, or obsession. When you love someone, you usually want them to be happy, safe, and at peace. This may be why many people make sacrifices for someone they love or go to extraordinary lengths when they believe that person may be in danger.
How can friendship and love change your life?
While many people know of the emotional benefits of love and friendship, many people might not be aware of the health benefits. Having loving people in your life can make a difference in more than one area.
Friendship and love can improve physical health
When you are around people who love and care for you (and vice versa), a hormone known as oxytocin is often released. Oxytocin has been linked to a reduction in blood pressure, greater energy, and reduced negative emotions like fear, stress, and anxiety. Experiencing these negative feelings regularly can negatively affect your health over time, not just on a physical level, but also emotionally and psychologically. For this reason, spending more time around loved ones may help mitigate against these effects.
Oxytocin also tends to improve people's abilities to adapt socially and experience general wellness in everyday life.
Friendships are associated with a lesser likelihood of depression
The existence of love and friendship in an individual's life has also been linked to a reduced likelihood of experiencing depression. When we have positive interpersonal relationships in our lives, we tend to feel happier, have more social experiences, and enjoy a higher quality of life. Healthy friendships can positively affect your mental health, which may make it important to assess which people you’d like to surround yourself with.
Friends can provide support during challenging times
Everyone experiences challenging times at one point or another, and challenges do not always manifest themselves in the same manner for each person. Sometimes, people experience rough times in the form of being laid off from work, losing a loved one, or experiencing a natural disaster. However, having friendship and love in life may help ensure that you have a support system to fall back on in times of distress.
When facing challenging times, it can be important to be willing to accept help from those who care about us. Often, people are led to believe that they must do everything on their own and rely on no one else. However, this may not be the best course of action. While there is nothing inherently wrong with being independent and self-sufficient, allowing the people who love you to be supportive can serve as a healthy balance between independence and self-sufficiency.
How to find friendships and love
Depending on who you are, where you live, and what your lifestyle is, you may or may not have a hard time developing loving relationships. If you find this process challenging, then the following tips and advice may prove to be of value.
Engage in recreational activities you enjoy
Participating in recreational activities that you enjoy may help you attract friendships and love into your life. One of the most effective ways to make this happen may be to put yourself in places where you can meet like-minded people. For example, taking a recreational class can allow you to do something that you love while meeting others with similar interests. This may set the foundation for loving friendships to form.
Don’t be afraid to be yourself
Sometimes, people believe they must adopt a certain persona or change who they are to find friendship and love in life. As common as this misconception may be, it isn’t usually accurate. True friendship and love allow you to be who you are without having to change or become something or someone you’re not. Sometimes, it can be tempting to want to fit in with others, but authenticity may help you find the right people for you. Finding those individuals may be easier if you practice being yourself and don’t try to change who you are to satisfy others.
Set boundaries
Setting boundaries may help determine the behaviors you are willing to accept from others, which may lead to more fulfilling relationships. Understanding what friendship and love entail may help you set healthy boundaries. Loving relationships can serve as positive and uplifting contributions to your life rather than bring you down. If you feel that friendship and love are bringing you down, you may benefit from reassessing your inner circle and surrounding yourself with healthier people.
Online counseling with BetterHelp
If you’re having trouble fostering healthy friendships, online therapy may be a beneficial tool. With online therapy through BetterHelp, you’ll have the opportunity to work with one of the thousands of licensed therapists available on the platform. This means you can find someone with whom you can establish a rapport, and you can always switch therapists if needed. You can communicate in a way that’s most comfortable for you, whether by live chat, phone, or video chat.
You can also message your therapist outside of sessions through in-app messaging. If you find yourself struggling with a friendship, have a question, or just want to chat, you can send an in-app message to your therapist, and they will get back to you when they’re able.
The efficacy of online counseling
Studies show that online therapy can help individuals cope with symptoms of depression and similar mental health conditions that may take a toll on friendships. In a study published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research, researchers examined the effects of internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT) on depression and anxiety. The results showed that individuals who completed the online interventions showed a significant reduction in symptoms. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a widely accepted method of counseling that aims to help participants reframe inaccurate, negative thought patterns that may be leading to problematic behaviors in friendships.
Takeaway
What is the purpose of love and friendship?
Relationships built on love or friendship are key to building an enriched life that minimizes loneliness and social isolation. Consistent social support during emotional or physical challenges promotes well-being and improves resilience, reducing the risk of premature death in older adults by subverting the effects of stress. Research suggests that love and friendship encourage healthy behaviors like exercising, eating a nutritious diet, and seeking medical care as early as needed.
How do you balance a romantic relationship and platonic relationships at the same time?
Intentionally prioritizing time management with both your romantic partner and your friendships can be a key factor in maintaining all social connections in a healthy way. Maintain open communication with all parties to promote transparency about your needs and the needs of other close relationships in your social network to avoid misunderstandings. When you’re physically present with one person, be sure to be mentally present with them as well; a good friend or romantic partner will likely be able to detect when your mind is elsewhere.
Is friendship a good foundation for love?
Many successful romantic relationships start with friendship, where the soon-to-be partner is first seen as a best friend. Studies in psychological science highlight that shared values, trust, and mutual respect in friendship often become a strong foundation upon which a partnership can stand.
What is true love and true friendship?
True love and friendship are based on a deep social connection rooted in trust and mutual respect without conditions. In clinical psychology, love and friendship are considered protective factors against mental health challenges and an indicator of longevity.
Which is the best relationship, comparing love and friendship, for mental health?
An international study of high school students found that school loneliness increased in 36 of the 37 tested countries between the years 2012 and 2018, resulting in a decline in the psychological well-being of adolescents.
A meta-analysis of relationships reveals that social support from both romantic love and friendship reduces risks of mental health disorders like anxiety and depression and even physical concerns like heart attack. In older adults, friendships are often more critical to mental health than romantic relationships, as they provide enduring support.
Why is friendship the best relationship in the world?
Keeping friends around offers companionship and trust without the pressures and expectations that are often associated with romantic love. Friendships can also expand an individual’s social network, offering a variety of perspectives and support systems in their life. Close friendships are associated with better mental and physical health and longevity.
Are love and friendship the same thing?
Love and friendship overlap in their characteristics, as platonic love is often an element of friendship, and friendship is often an element of romantic love. However, love (in reference to romantic love) is often related to exclusivity and intimacy in a way that friendship is not. While a person may lead an interdependent life with a romantic partner or spouse, the same cannot often be said for friendships.
Why is friendship the purest form of love?
Friendship might be considered the purest form of love because it’s built on mutual respect, understanding, trust, and common values rather than conditions or expectations. From a young age, children demonstrate that friendship is rooted in genuine affection and shared joy, untainted by external societal pressures.
What are healthy ways to express affection and love for a friend?
There are numerous ways you might express love and affection to a friend, and the way you and your friend communicate these is dependent on the way you communicate in general.
Here are some common ways people show their friends love:
- Being physically present for important moments in their life, be it a master’s degree graduation, wedding, or a baby shower.
- Giving thoughtful gifts on their birthday, during the holidays, or just because.
- Sending letters in the mail.
- Sharing inside jokes.
- Inviting them into your family.
- Checking in to let them know you’re thinking of them.
- Going on new adventures together and bonding over shared experiences.
- Telling them verbally that you love them.
There are innumerable ways to show someone you love them. It’s often about making the effort to do so.
How do people maintain good friendships and relationships to prevent social isolation?
In the business of daily life, it’s easy to let good friendships slide out of mind. It can be important to prioritize your relationships with your friends and find quality time to share with them.
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