Friends Are Not "Friends"

So this topic has been lingering about my mind for a while. . .

Gwu - Ant - Miss Ting Chen - Man - Fart - Banana - Emiri - Monkey

By the title, you already know this might be heading towards a pretty cliche post. You're probably expecting all the "I'm so grateful for my friends", "I can't survive without my friends" or the "my friends are the best!!" kind of post. But just hear me out.

The truth is socialising hasn't always been my forte and it actually took me a while until I gained enough confidence to step out of my comfort zone. In other words, making friends hasn't always been a piece of cake for me. I've made wonderful friends at school and I've had best friend(s) before but there's a difference between making friends you can genuinely connect with and making friends who've become your 'friends' simply by acting like 'friends'. 

Miss Ting Chen - @http://misstingchen.blogspot.com.au/

Emiri - @http://emiri-desu.blogspot.com.au/

I guess my point is people become 'friends' way too easily these days. The term is used too broadly and people deem one to be their friend way too simply. To put the case in point, I've witnessed (quite a few times) people qualifying a stranger as their friend after meeting them ONCE through mutual friends or whatnot. Another case in point- what is up with people using Facebook as a tool to account another as a friend through the acceptance of the 'Add Friend' button?! Okay, fine. I guess the words itself 'Add Friend' is probably a dead giveaway but honestly... the world scares me a little if the universe believes the 'Add Friend' button is the simple and standard qualification of establishing friendships. NO. Just no. 

This post is starting to get longer than I intended so I'm going to cut it short without leaving any significant message I want to send here. 

"J" BB

I discovered the true definition of 'friends' the hard way. I won't go into details because it's all in the past but this is the message I enlightened on: True friends stand up for you when the whole world is against you. True friends aren't afraid to hurt you when you need a "wake-up call". True friendships come naturally without you needing to go through any 'Are-You-My -Friend Checklist'. 

These couple of years I've never been happier because I genuinely think I've found my real friends - groups both from school and outside of school. The photos in this post are some of the people I'm super grateful for (sorry for the cliche). So from the bottom of my heart, to those who have made my days a little brighter and little happier, thank you and I love you! <3 

Note: The captions will reveal nicknames instead of real names in order to protect privacy concerns. I'm also missing a few others but I don't have their photos atm - they know who they are anyways haha. ]

Edit: I removed some pictures to protect others' privacy.