There are a lot of friendship myths that aren’t true. Some of them may come from fear and others just come from people’s ignorance and misinformation. You know what they say, true friends are hard to find… or …aren’t they? I really love this quote by William Shakespeare, who once said: “A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” Here are a few friendship myths that aren’t true:
This is one of the most popular friendship myths that aren’t true. A lot of people think that if they have as many friends as possible, they will be happier and they will be surrounded only by people who love them and want what’s best for them. Well, in friendships, quality is the thing that matters and not the quantity. If you have a lot of friendships, you also need a lot of time to nurture them and this can be a little tricky sometimes, especially if you are a very busy individual.
Despite what many people may think, friendships are not forever. You have to nurture a friendship if you want it to work, you have to put effort into it and you have to make sacrifices sometimes. The reality is that friends can come and go, so try to appreciate the friends you have while you have them.
A lot of people think that men and women can’t be friends. Well, this can be true if they want to be friends with someone they’ve dated or if one of them has a secret crush on the other. But the fact is that men and women can have platonic friendships if they are being honest with each other and if they are emotionally secure and stable.
Friends are human too and people do make mistakes, so they can let you down sometimes. I’m sure you’re not perfect either and that even you have occasionally hurt some of your friends. The fact that they disappointed you on some occasions doesn’t make them bad people (especially if they are sorry for what they did).
There’s nothing wrong with you if you don’t have friends. It doesn’t mean that you don’t know how to socialize or how to communicate. Everyone goes through periods of time when they have fewer friends and this can happen due to all kinds of reasons - for example, the fact that you just moved to a new town or that you’ve graduated and all of your friends have returned home.
The only one who can make you happy is you. If you accept and love yourself just the way you are then you will live a healthy and happy life, but if you if you are too hard on yourself and if you blame your abilities for every little setback you have, then no matter how many friends you have, they won’t manage to make you feel happy.
A lot of people believe this myth to be true but I must tell you that they are wrong, since you don’t have to have a best friend to be happy. You can have a lot of good friends that can fulfill you emotionally and not just one best friend.
There are a lot of myths about friendship that aren’t true. I just mentioned a few in this little article but I’m sure there are many more I could add to this list. Do you know any other friendship myths that aren’t true? Please tell us about them in the comments section!
Sources: friendship.about.com, thoughtcatalog.com