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On Friendship

Two women hand in hand leap barefoot through a golden meadow, leaving heavy suitcases and a ball and chain behind in the grass

To hell with the "how to win friends" guides! All you have to do is be real to that person and if she responded with her true self, you both win a friend without breaking a sweat. If you're trying hard to keep someone then the value of friendship is doomed from the start because eventually, it will be lost.

Friendship makes life lighter and more fun so if it felt like a heavy load to carry, then it's not friendship at all.

Real friendship doesn't require performance reviews or constant maintenance
It doesn't demand you to be someone else to keep it alive
It doesn't make you feel like you're walking on eggshells or auditioning for a role

Bare feet stepping off a floor of broken eggshells onto a soft plum rug

True friends see your mess and stay anyway
They don't need you to be perfect; they need you to be real
They laugh at your terrible jokes and call you out on your bullshit with equal enthusiasm

Two friends sit on the floor of a messy, string-lit apartment, one with her arm around the other

If friendship feels like work, you're probably friends with the wrong people