The importance of friendship

Friendship is very important to me.

My friends give me many things that neither my family nor my girlfriend give me, and with them I have lived some of the best moments of my life.

Therefore, I try to take care of them and see them whenever I can.

Unfortunately, as we get older it seems that colleagues take a back seat.

We are all so busy with work, relationships and the responsibilities of adult life that coordinating 3 people to meet for dinner on a Saturday becomes an impossible mission.

The only exception is when it is a special occasion, such as a wedding or bachelor party.

Everyone there takes it seriously and is able to find time in their busy schedule to go to the appointment.

After observing this phenomenon over and over again, I came to the conclusion that if I wanted to get my friends together more often, I needed to have more important events.

But of course, it couldn’t depend on marriages either, because in principle people only get married once…

So, a few years ago, I made the decision to “create” those special occasions myself in other ways.

For example, every year in December I take advantage of the fact that it is my birthday to organize a big party and invite my best friends.

I prepare a fun plan for the whole weekend, I send invitations several weeks in advance like when we were little, I create a WhatsApp group and send reminders with the planning…

In short, I treat it as an important event because for me it is.

And when people feel it’s important, they make an effort to come.

This 2019 we gathered more than 30 friends in Barcelona, ​​some of them even came from other countries just for this event, and we had a great time.

Another example!

In the summer of 2013, taking advantage of the fact that I was traveling through Southeast Asia after leaving Microsoft, a group of friends from Madrid suggested that I take a trip to Japan.

We had a great time on that trip, so to make sure it was repeated every year, we gave it a name and made it a tradition.

Now we all know that in summer you have to reserve 3 weeks for the “Walker Trip”, and that this is sacred, because traditions are not broken.

And I must say that so far the strategy has worked perfectly.

Despite the fact that we are a group of 6 friends and that we live in different countries, we have been traveling together for 7 years in a row, and always always always our trip is one of the highlights of the year.

One last example.

Whenever I come to Cáceres, my hometown, I try to stay with different groups of friends.

But when I do, I don’t write to have a coffee, but I propose a much more attractive plan.

In my case, I talk to my former party companions, also known as “desert foxes”, about organizing a “fox dinner”.

And to my friends, Carmelo, Ana and María, I propose to do a remember of a mythical night that we lived when we were younger.

In this way, I have managed to keep in touch with them and keep seeing them for the last +10 years.

But… why am I telling you all this?

Well, I do it to remind you how important friends are, and to encourage you to take advantage of any date or excuse to organize something special with them.

I know that we are all very busy, and that sometimes it is lazy to celebrate your birthday or organize something on New Year’s Eve.

But every birthday that you don’t celebrate and every New Year’s Eve that you stay at home is a lost opportunity to get together with those people with whom you have lived such good moments and with whom it is normally so difficult to meet.

An opportunity to catch up, share and remember little battles that will never come back.

So take advantage of these moments and always make an effort to see your colleagues.

Because although having a partner and a family that loves you is important, your life will never be complete without friendship.