A REASON TO HOLD ON

When building friendships, there are so many things to consider, if not, it gets to a point and you just lose such friendships. First, before calling someone our friend, there are some things that we believe we have in common with this person that makes us see them as our friends. For some, it might be the fact that they are in the same department in school and they live in the same street and usually go to school together almost every time and over time they just form this friendship because they see that they have similar goals in terms of academics.

For others, they become friends because their energy matched that of the other person. They did little or nothing to become friends because everything just flowed seamlessly. And there are others who are very intentional and bold enough to go seek friendship from someone they want to be friends with. And so many other ways. The bottom line is, we all have friends based on the fact that we agree on something with them.

As time goes by, friendships are tested and only the best ones survive the storm. And mostly, friendships that survive this storm are friendships that they share similar ideas and beliefs about most things, not necessarily all. And also friendships that are built with open mindedness. If you will agree with me, no two humans are the same. There is always one thing that sets one person apart from the other. There will always be something we disagree on but then, the ability for us to agree on something later is what makes such friendship strive.

According to the hivelearners topic, we are asked to share our thoughts on friendships and the extent to which it can be maintained. For me, in as much as we all can’t have the same ideas and beliefs, a friendship that wishes to stand the test of time must have one thing that is strong enough to keep it going no matter the storm it may face. For me, there are some things that makes me hold on to a friendship even when we might have different ideas and beliefs and that is the ability for my friend to be willing to learn.

The moment I notice you are someone that finds it hard to learn or you are always holding on to your beliefs even when it is clearly obvious that you are wrong, then I doubt I can stay long in such a friendship. And that is because I believe friends are people that learn from each other. No one knows it all but there are definitely some things that my friend knows better than me and vice versa. We should be able to fill in on each other’s weaknesses and continue to nurture the areas we are both strong.

I might only let go of a friendship because we have different ideas and beliefs when the differences between us is great and very noticeable even by others. If our weaknesses is obvious to others, it only means that we are highly vulnerable to external influences and that is a big threat to our friendship but when the weaknesses are only seen by us, then it is something I can work with.

Most friends that ended up as enemies is because they had an obvious weaknesses that someone else probably took advantage of and that’s why their friendship with the other person was brought to an end. And it is usually due to their differences in ideas and beliefs about things.

So if you have a friend that has a different belief or idea from you, don’t push them away if it is something that is just between the both of you. And even if others know of it, if your friend or you are open to learning, it is something that I believe you both can work things out. It’s just a matter of patience and communication. But if that friend or you are not open to corrections and learning, I fear that friendship is bound to end at some point.

This is my response to the topic. Thank you for reading through. 💜