Friendships are the second engine of your life’s plane, keep them fuelled!

Jun 28 , 2019 9 min read 1319 Views 2 Likes 0 Comments

How is that? It’s because-

Friendships are something that gets you out of the house- They are the people you get to invite or get invited over by.
It actually functions as the second engine on your life’s plane in case something happens on the other areas of your life, friendships will be the second engine that will keep the plane afloat as they are the people who make you realize who you are, how valuable you are and what value do you add to the world.

Back in the day, before social media started getting knitted into our life's very fabric, the opportunity to develop and build friendships was a much more active process. People used to be more open and willing to go out for engagements or just, in general, were curious and interested whenever they got a chance to interact with another person. Once they found someone who jibbed with them, they would build on that connection and that lead to eventually becoming friends. That connection would then introduce them to other person(s) with similar taste and vice versa. This process followed by us eventually used to lead community formation of like-minded people. Since the time spent online was almost zero to negligible, more focus was given to develop and build these bonds offline, out in the open.

Cut two to today, since today we spent a reasonable amount of time online (particularly on social media), it has left us even lesser time to engage offline proactively. Hence, keeping up to spend more of our time online than taking a moment to step out and connect with friends offline too. Not to mention this has affected our social lives to a great extent. The repercussions of the same (in the form of issues as loneliness, depression etc.) can be seen on our mental health as a society is also a valid point we can't miss to consider. The news, facts and experiences of which, we keep receiving on a regular basis.

So, it's extremely important to invest your time and energy to build your offline friendships and community. In fact, it also allows you to have a strong foothold and an anchor to hold you in times when you need social support.

Here are 5 simple tips you can follow to get the ball rolling -

Call a friend you haven't spoken to in a while and have a conversation
Take someone out for a coffee and interact with them
Text someone- Pause and convey a moment of gratitude or a moment of support to them
Be curious and welcoming to new people that you get an opportunity to get-in-touch with
Join a class or some activity that has more people with similar interests as you eg. Gym, Yoga class etc.
Go out and mingle-up with people who don't share a similar taste or take on things as this will help you to get introduced to new thought processes and perspectives different than your own.