Friends enrich our lives with companionship, joy, and support, creating a sense of belonging and connection. They’re with us to celebrate our achievements and milestones, making the good times even more memorable.
When times are tough, friends offer a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, and encouragement. Their understanding and empathy can turn our lowest moments into opportunities for growth and healing.
Having friends is one of life’s great blessings. It’s no wonder the United Nations set aside every July 30 as the International Day of Friendship. But one day doesn’t feel like enough. Friendship deserves more than a moment — it deserves at least a month.
This July, let’s turn every day into an opportunity to honor the friends who make life richer, funnier, and more meaningful. Let’s tell the stories, make the calls, send the notes, and find the little ways to say, “I’m glad you’re in my life.”
Friends and longevity
I’ve written in the past about a famous Harvard University study that’s tracked thousands of people since 1938. It found that participants with the strongest relationships experienced greater happiness compared with those with fewer friends. Those who reported being happier also turned out to be the longest living.
Why is that?
For answers, I turned to Dr. Jan Yager, a sociologist and author who has written a dozen books about friendship, including Friendshifts: The Power of Friendship and How It Shapes Our Lives.
Dr. Yager, an adjunct associate professor in the sociology department at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, pointed to a landmark study that followed 7,000 men and women in California found that those who were socially isolated had approximately three times the risk of dying compared to those with strong social connections.
The 1979 study also revealed the first evidence of the health benefits associated with social connections, including better moods and lower blood pressure, along with a decreased mortality rate.
The findings have been confirmed repeatedly elsewhere, and the National Institutes of Health reports that strong relationships can also reduce the risk of heart-related issues, and may even enhance your immune system’s ability to fight off infections.
Read also: Celebrations Pulse: Music in the key of life
Challenges to friendship
Despite these findings, many of us struggle to find and maintain friends. Let’s face it: The busier life gets, the harder it is to keep up. As work and family commitments often take up most of our time, friendships can fall by the wayside.
How do you make friends? It’s as simple as tapping the superpower we all have to connect with other people. For people you know, just send a text or an email checking in on them and making plans to keep the conversation going. For strangers, it’s saying a kind word or asking a friendly question.
Hopefully, by the end of Friendship Month, you’ll have even more reasons to reach out to friends, old and new, and strengthen those relationships that fill your lives with happiness and health.
Jim McCann, a Long Island native who is the founder of Jericho-based 1-800-Flowers.com, has been writing the Celebrations Pulse, a weekly letter to customers, since March 2020. Enjoy what you’ve read? Subscribe to the free weekly edition and get it delivered to your inbox every Sunday at celebrations.com/pulse.
