Can We Live Without Friends? Discover The Answer
Can we live without friends? When faced with this question, more than one person will probably say, “ Of course it is possible! It’s true, I don’t have any friends and I’m alive ”. It’s true, we don’t run out of oxygen because we don’t have social connections, our hearts don’t stop, and we don’t go blown away just for that reason.
But how to live without them? Do we know well-being or are we regular victims of the existential vacuum? Certainly no one loses their life because they don’t have at least one friend.
However, in many cases this situation leads to sadness, disappointment and discouragement. Let’s not forget that one of the main reasons for therapy is feeling lonely, not being able to form strong social bonds and not having someone with whom to talk, laugh and share good times in life. .
Humans are social beings, and the brain needs this quality peer interaction to experience positive emotions, feel validated, and secure. Now, as evolutionary psychology points out, having friends is not necessary for our survival, but it improves quality of life and promotes feelings of happiness.
Is it possible to live without friends?
It is often said that the quality of our social relationships is nourished by what we have experienced within our family. However, this is not entirely true.
Some people have a traumatic past due to abusive or unloving parents and yet have built their true families on the bonds of friendship. Sometimes it’s even the other way around: having a loving family doesn’t always guarantee that we’ll make strong friendships.
On the other hand, and beyond all this, no one can deny that good friends bring color to life. These are fortuitous findings that, unlike family, do not come naturally to us. And almost without knowing how, they become accomplices, unexpected treasures that travel with us for a certain period, and sometimes forever.
There are friends who come and go, it’s true. False friendships and friendships that make us better people. However, there are those who, for lack of social skills or also for having accumulated more than a few disappointments, have been deprived of these figures for a long time. The question is therefore whether one can live without friends.
We can live without friends because we are an increasingly individualistic society
You can live without friends, it’s true. A research project conducted at the University of Arizona by Dr Melika Demir and Dr Ingrid Davidson showed something interesting that prompts us to reflect. It has been discovered that indeed, friendships are a variable in knowing happiness. However, on average, this factor is not the most important in the eyes of people.
What is most decisive is the satisfaction of basic needs and also the feeling of competence. It is more desirable to feel independent, to cover basic aspects such as food, work, housing or even having a partner. Another factor is added, namely “liquid relations”.
As philosopher and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman would say, society is increasingly individualistic. This makes the links more fragile, unreliable and even elusive. Friends come and go, they rarely last, and although it can generate disaffection, some people get used to it.
I don’t need friends because I have social interactions with a lot of people
People need to have access to daily social interaction, at least in its most basic form. Talking with work colleagues, exchanging conversations with neighbors, with those who sell us bread every day… These are times that make us feel good, to the point that many people don’t need to go anymore. far.
That is, they do not want or seek to consolidate strong bonds that will become true friendships. This kind of rather superficial interaction is therefore sufficient for some men and women, who could safely say that it is indeed possible to live without friends.
Does not having strong friendships come at a price?
We know we can live without friends. A lot of people don’t have this kind of connection for one reason or another, and they just go on with their lives. But does this observation have a psychological cost? It is true that each person is a world: some live it badly, others feel fulfilled in their solitude.
However, this is neither normal nor recommended. It is interesting to keep this in mind: suicides are more and more frequent in this individualistic society with fragile relationships. Not having friends doesn’t kill us per se, it’s true, but it makes life more difficult.
We need quality friendships, people we can trust to create spaces in which we can nourish ourselves emotionally. Friendship makes our existence more complete, gives it more meaning, and gives us that kind of support that has such a positive effect on our mental health.
The absence of this dimension creates voids and wounds in which disaffection and loneliness navigate, which grip and painfully distort our reality. Let’s not deprive ourselves of it… Let’s look for people with whom we can share our passions, with whom we can grow, laugh, share… The benefits of friendship are incalculable.
Our thoughts Friendships between women are very different from friendships between men. They bring great strength and essential well-being.
