When a child is born, in a few months, it starts to recognize its parents. These are the first people a child gets familiar with. Gradually, it starts to recognize its immediate family and close relatives it is introduced to.

Slowly, the child grows up a little and starts going to play school. That is the first time it finds itself between other kids of its age. Gradually, it gets comfortable with a few of them, but at this time, the concept of friendship is not something it understands.

Next phase of a child’s life is when it starts going to a proper school. This is the time when the child starts making friends (the few ones with whom it feels comfortable and connected with, though its young mind is still too young to grasp the depth of the word ‘Friends’). At this point, it is just someone it always plays with or maybe sits next to during class.

When we are small, we make many such friends. When we are in primary classes, very few find such friends with whom they stick for life. I used to have new friends every year when I was promoted to the next class. Being an introvert, I would find it difficult to start a conversation with any other batch mate, and it would usually be my bench-mate with whom I would hang out during breaks and think of as my friend.

As I grew older, I started making a few more friends (friends who wouldn’t change yearly). Towards the end of school life, we thought we would always keep in touch with these few friends that we made, but that as we know it, is better said than done. I changed my city for my higher education, and slowly, we all got busy with our new lives and new friends. This is the phase where I made few true friends who were to be kept for a lifetime. You don’t need to put in any extra effort for it; you just know it when you do find someone like that.

As you go on with your life, a number of changes takes place — You start working and find yourself extremely busy, change cities for better job opportunities and even get married in a completely different city (like in my case), far away from these treasures that we found on this journey of life. But these friends are different. These friends are the ones who you may not talk to or meet every day, but you know they are there for you and whenever we do get that privilege to meet them or even just talk to them, they seem to heal you in unspoken ways.

Now, why do you think we need friends? Friends are the ones who fulfil that missing piece in each other’s life, which helps to make this life a little more bearable and liveable. The ones we make friends with are the ones who fulfil this missing piece in our life, and similarly, we fulfil that missing piece in theirs. It is like two broken pieces that complete each other, thus helping each other go on with this difficult and ruthless life. They fit in such a way that when you are with them, life may even seem beautiful. They are the medicine that’s required to lead a healthy and normal life, the types which you cannot skip even on your lazy days.

Husband and wife are known as soul mates that complete each other. Having that true friend, I believe, is also like having a soul mate - they complete you in ways we may not know.

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All types of friends are important. Together, they help to complete the several missing parts in us and make us whole. To complete a jigsaw puzzle, it is necessary to have all the tiny little pieces. Even a single missing piece can make a huge difference as the puzzle will never look complete. You cannot even try and fit in any other puzzle piece in its place, this is how much importance every tiny piece holds.

Similarly in life, we require all types of friends to complete us in different ways.

There may be a few friends with whom you love to party, which just refreshes you and helps you to carry on in life; then there are the ones with whom you connect emotionally, just talking to them or even a tight hug from them is enough to provide you the strength that you need — It helps you get rid of the pain that you hold in your heart to a great extent; then you have your office buddies because of whom you look forward to going to office — you can just rant out all the office related frustrations in front of them and know that it’s safe with them, and just having them listen, makes it feel better.

Talking and sharing your emotions with someone who understands you are very important. It is like meditation. Sharing any life problems with someone doesn’t mean that they can help it go away; it is the emotional support they provide that helps us feel strong enough to face it and go on with it. Many times, it is our spouses, parents, or siblings who we share these with, but every relationship has its own limitations. There are different things you share with different people, and there are various reasons for it.

For example, there may be a few things which you cannot share with your parents or siblings, simply because you know that they always want to see you happy. Letting them have even a hint that it is not the case, will hurt them tremendously. So, to rid them of this pain, you tend to keep it within yourself. But, not sharing our emotions with anyone, just piles on inside us which can result in several health issues and just tends to destroy us.

This is when the importance of having friends, along with family, steps in. These are the feelings and emotions we tend to share with our close friends, and just sharing all your difficulties with each other makes us feel the emotional wound we all carry in our hearts, begin to heal. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt them to know that something is preventing you from being happy — after all, even they love you the way your family does. The difference is just that even they are in similar situation. Life is difficult for everyone and everyone needs that shoulder where they can lean on. When we share our pain with our friends, it is both ways. Even they share theirs with us, and this way, we both help each other generate the strength required to go on with life.

Friends are those who don’t judge you, just like your family. That’s why these special ones are said to be our siblings from another mother, because they are like family to us. They know you in and out, and you can be yourself around them. They provide you with that comfort, which is in knowing that you can share anything and everything with them, yet they will always love you. They just love you for being ‘You’.

One very good quote that I feel accurately describes the importance of having friends, goes as below: