I’m With Them but I’m Still with Me

Look. We have friends. We like them and we love them. We connected with them for a purpose, likewise, they also did with their own. They keep us interested, they share a piece of themselves with us, they acknowledge us, and they accept us for who we are. We do the same. We lend them a shoulder to lean on, we stay in touch with them, we entertain them, and we keep them company. Some friends go, and some stay. Some are intentionally befriended, and some are not. Some are more special than others, and lastly, some are real and some are not. All in all, this goes the same for them towards us.

Being with friends is fun and all, but let us not ever forget ourselves—ever. That statement alone can stand for eternity. Why? Because it’s us. Our selves will never leave us. Most, if not all, of our friends and peers will not stay until the end of time. Some will change so much that it will distance us from them. On the other hand, some will not, but we are the ones who will. Is your friend circle the same as it was 5 years ago? Or did your friend circle increase or decrease its size and quality? There will surely be several changes, and these changes will go unnoticed and are inevitable. Next thing we know, we are already with those who we did not expect to be with from the start.

In other terms, we adapt and we change for the betterment of ourselves, or what we think is “better” for us. We learn to whom we must connect with, for this world is a place of the survival of the fittest. But with all that said and done, we cannot achieve greatness if we will not start with a strong foundation: ourselves. We do have our friends and peers as supporting pillars but that doesn’t mean that our life will or should revolve around them. Remember, the friendships we make are a part of who we are, but it is our independence that builds our self-identity.

On a final note, the point is not that we should abandon our friends and peers and just be with ourselves, but rather, it is for us to realize that we still have ourselves even if we don’t have anyone. We will walk ourselves through the paths of life, for our friends are those who pave new ways for us to walk through, but they are only the shadows that we’ve cast from facing the bright light of independence and self-reliance. Let us go and live life to the fullest.