On Friendship...

Humans aren’t meant to be alone. That much is clearly true. When we are in love for instance, the different hormones and chemicals of the body work to encourage and reward us. Most people have felt that feeling of euphoria in some form. It is undeniable and so are the health benefits. It is a medical fact that those in a loving relationship will live longer.  As well as the inner benefits of body chemistry, there are the mental ones. The emotional and physical support offered by a partner in life is just as valuable. Being within a model that Society accepts as ‘normal’ is also a stabilising force.  

The simple companionship of having a partner or a close friend, to share our victories and our problems goes a long way to good mental health. While on the other end of the scale, being alone is highly stressful and painful just of itself. 

If a person finds themselves outside of this paradigm, then there are many negative effects, both physical and mental. Living with loneliness and a feeling of failure for extended periods of time has effects that one would expect such as depression and social isolation. The withdrawal of the hormonal nectar is painful and eventually ebbs into a dull lethargy that becomes the everyday trudge to and from one place to another. Parts of the brain that govern positive emotions go into a semi-shutdown mode. It is as if we are not living, but merely existing from one day to the next.      

This state of affairs can also have strange and unexpected effects. When a person exists for a long period in this state, then the effects of any form of human contact are magnified. A successful interaction with another human being can initiate that same feeling of euphoria within the soul as being in love. It is a rush of good emotions that allows one to accomplish many things in a small amount of time, until the feeling passes and the effect of the hormone has worn off.

This is how I have come to feel about true friendship and how being around friends makes me feel. It is an experience oh so rare and to my mind, valued beyond riches.