Chapter 13- Relationships with Friends

Like most people, I like having friends. I like being able to connect with people that have similar interests and I like to share experiences with them. Doing that gives me a sense of contentment that I rarely feel when I am by myself. However, a problem I have experienced for most of my life is anxiety, both general and social. With that in mind, it is often hard for me to make friends beyond a few people, and I end up being quite close with them as a result. Even though it doesn’t do me much good, I envy people who can be friends with everyone and anyone. To me, it just seems like it would take such a massive amount of energy to be able to achieve that. I guess in that respect, I am glad that I don’t have the energy to do that. It allows me to learn my limitations and keep me grounded. The friendships I have are referred to as agentic friendships, which involves being friends, but we often have other things we view as more important to take care of before we see each other (chapter 13, pg. 358). In truth, I don’t enjoy this type of friendship because I end up questioning the point of being friends if we barely see each other.