Why You Have to Choose Your Friends Wisely

As we grow up, the notion of friendship acquires new meaning. Adults can lose connection with childhood friends, and it is hard to find new ones. In the digital era, the ways people connect with each other are changing. For example, phone calls have been substituted by Facebook and other social media. Consequently, meetings in real life have become rare. Friendship is very important in every person’s life not only because of its emotional benefits ‒ psychologists claim it is vital due to the positive  effects it has on our well-being. Below are some of them.

Choosing Good Friends

1. Friends with a strong will can help you to control yourself. People with a strong self-control will help you make your resistance to temptations stronger. According to the reports of the Psychological Science, people with low self-control are usually seeking for strong-willed friends who can help them improve their willpower. So, genuine friendships can help you grow not only personally, but professionally, as well.

2. Fewer friends – more financial risks. Psychologists proved that a person with an unsatisfied necessity of interaction with people is likely to spend more money and take more serious financial risks.

3. You can get stressed by the huge amount of friends on Facebook. According to theUniversity of Edinburgh Business School report, too many social media friends result in stress. While users try to create their online image, they experience stress, so the more they communicate via social media, the more stressed they become. So, genuine friendships offline can be a better option.
4. If you have close friends, you can live longer. That’s not a fiction, but a scientifically proved fact by various researchers. People who maintain close friendships outlive those who don’t. Moreover, the research also has shown that people who have cancer can live longer if they have close relationships with other people.
5. Your decisions are influenced by your friends.When you are in close relationship with someone for a long time, it’s easier for you to overcome your temptations. On the other hand, you can both commit secret “crimes” – instead of resisting eating chocolate, a friend can eat it together with you.

 Value Your Friendship

Friends are people who reveal the best in you, help you overcome stress and grief, and become your mates in having fun. However, friendship should be appreciated here and now, not somewhere in the future. Due to various life circumstances, friends usually appear and disappear from our lives, so it is important to take care of them while they are with us.