The Talking Cure: Learn About the Importance of Friendship: Find Out How Your Health Will Benefit With the Age Old Practice Of Making and Keeping Friends
The MayoClinic.com reports that “Friendships boost self-esteem, help protect health and mental well being. Friendships increase your sense of belonging and self-worth promoting positive mental health.”
We’ve all gotten the phone call, the one that starts out casual and quite quickly reveals that someone is in crisis and really needs to talk. Sometimes it is crucial to just let a friend know what is going on in your life. Often a person just needs to let a secret out, to finally talk about something that has been bothering them. Other times someone just needs to hear a friendly voice.
The importance of friendship is crucial to health because they make us feel safe and loved and they decrease stress levels. Knowing that someone cares enough to spend time talking with you is often enough to keep anxiety about one’s day to day problems from becoming overwhelming. Interacting with friends helps soothe your body and soul.
The Australian Longitudinal Study of Aging was reported on in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health Journal by Lynne Giles. She reported that ”Friendships help reduce feelings of depression and anxiety at difficult times. She added “Relationships with friends have important positive effects on survival.”
Stay in Touch with Friends
Whether talk occurs on the phone, via IM, or in person, just hanging out and interacting with a friend is monumentally good for one’s mental and physical health. A sign of danger when someone is depressed is becoming withdrawn from close friends. When someone no longer has the desire or the ability to want to interact with others it is too often a sign that the person is in severe crisis.
Be Proactive
So whatever stage of life you are in, always be proactive and keep building friendships. It is nice to have long-term and new friends. Mix it up in your life and actively work to have friends that you relate to in many different ways. Maybe with some friends you play sports together and with other friends you discuss politics. Just keep making friends; they add a layer of richness to life.
Honor Your Friends
Remember to take the time to let your friends know about the importance of their friendships how you value knowing them. Friends bring much joy, but too often we take them for granted. There are many ways to let friends know you care about maintaining your ties with them. Whether through words or deeds just let friends know they mean the world to you. Express your feelings and your bond will grow even stronger.
Have Friends of All Ages
It is fascinating to be friends with people of other generations. They often have a world view quite different from one’s own. They are good sources of opinions when the world seems chaotic and confusing. Try to make friends of many age ranges. It keeps life interesting.
Stay Active
Stay active in life. That is the best way to just naturally make new friends. Take classes, join clubs, exercise outdoors where people gather. Just get involved in life and be sociable. You never know where a new friendship will lead you.
And always remember to celebrate your friends and their achievements in life. True friends are a rare joy in life. Show them you love and appreciate them!