Three years ago, my friend and I made a “friend list.” Having gone to a high school that graduated 560 kids with each class, there were dozens of students that we didn’t know even by senior year. Thus the friend list was born. It was basically a mental list of people that we thought were interesting, kind or cool that we wanted to be friends with.
Typing this all out now, I’m aware that this sounds either 1. really creepy or 2. like a happy hit list. I think the second option is better, so we’ll stick with that. All things aside, the point of the friend list was more than just thinking somebody is awesome. The friend list was doing something about it.
My friend and I made our friend list senior year of high school, and as a result became friends with some of the kindest, funniest, most interesting people we’d ever met. Sure we were only a few months from graduating, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy their friendships for that short amount of time.
I think even today, whether we’ll admit it or not, we all have a mental friend list. Maybe you’d secretly love to go shopping with the stylish girl in your biology class. Maybe you’d love to have a philosophical discussion with the boy who raised ethical questions in your sociology course. Or maybe you’ve just heard that somebody is really cool and you want to be their friend.
My question here is why aren’t you? Why do we wait to become friends with people? Instead of silently admiring from afar, why can’t we introduce ourselves and strike up a conversation? After all, isn’t friendship like the key to survival?
I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t wait. I know I’m guilty of this as well. I can think somebody is really wonderful. I imagine they’d be a terrific friend. But I do nothing about it. Think about it. How many times have you been talking with a new friend and suddenly had that light bulb moment of, “Why weren’t we friends sooner?”
So this is my challenge for you for this week: go make a friend. Pick someone off your mental friend list, the one you’ve been thinking of since you started reading, and introduce yourself. Who knows, it could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Love always,
Liz