Theme 2: Friendship

On this page, you'll find thematic discussions around the theme of friendship which includes :
- reflections
- videos and written answers of questionnaire from our community of reflectors
- additional links to more resources

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

“Promise me to not hide yourself when you’re in pain. It’s unfair that we laughed together but you cried alone”

There are a multitude of relationships one can have - the one that we have with ourselves, with the divine, family relationship, friendship, work related relationships and of course romantic relationships. Among all of these, the one I would like to focus on is Friendship.

From as long as I can remember, friendship has always been part of my life. Having had to move to different countries or just change schools within the same country, I have been quite used to making new friends but would always stick to the same people. I remember that growing up, I had a hard time understanding how some people could maintain so many friendships. I felt like I was alone in my desire to connect deeply with a few people rather than knowing more people on a superficial level.

Purpose

Prompt

PURPOSE & PROMPT

To this day, I still prefer quality over quantity. However, with time, I have come to realize that friendship definitions can vary drastically from one person to the other. I guess it is okay as long as the people involved in the relationship value it the same.

In our generational context, I find that a significant headwind to creating meaningful relationships can be the rise of social media. At first, it was supposed to help us connect or reconnect with our friends and share more of our lives. However, do we really feel closer to our friends this way ? How many of the new connections formed on social media translate into meaningful relationships ?

Through this second theme, I wanted to go deeper into one type of relationship I cherish the most.
My friends are my rock and I hope to be on par with them. I wanted to know how you feel about yours ? What does that look like to you ?

Another headwind to the exploration of meaningful friendship could be the rise of modern dating. I find that people tend to put a deep emphasis and significant amount of weight onto their ‘significant other’. This in the long run can become quite unhealthy because one person cannot be everything to the other one.

So, honestly, what does friendship mean to you ?

The Questions

What does friendship mean to you ?

QUESTIONS

Has it always meant the same throughout your life ?

What is the definition of a good friend to you ?

Do you value more romantic relationships than friendships ? Or if you cannot answer this in a straightforward way, could you explain how these two play a role in your life ? Basically here you can write your thoughts on both.