Did you know that, the kind of friends you associate with determines your future? Friendship is a bond between people that connect with one another and share one another feelings and thoughts. In life, friendship is important because it gives us a feeling of belonging, lend an extra hand and also give guidance when needed.
Although the influence of a friend’s behavior can affect one 60 percent. The English proverb says “show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.” There are two ways in which friendship affects one’s life. We have the positive way and the negative way.
We often think that self-control comes within ourselves, yet many of our actions depend on the kind of friends we associate ourselves with in life. A young scholar, Dr Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose, once said that “Roll with friends with the same mindset.” Those we surround ourselves with have the power to affect our life either the positive way or the negative way.
A positive friend is also known as a good friend. They affect our lives with good morals, self-discipline and dedication towards study. Most times, good friends give advice in order for us not to follow the wrong path. Having a good friend can build our sense of value and also build up our self-esteem.
A negative friend is also known as a bad friend. They affect one’s life with illicit and unacceptable behaviors such as stealing, smoking, killing in the society. No matter how good or innocent you are, when you associate yourself with bad peers, you will become bad. The theory is, a good orange among the bad ones will definitely become bad. Negative friends are like disease outbreak, they cover everywhere with destruction. Many of the youth in Nigeria have been influenced negatively, which is part of what causes the problem the country is going through.
According to Dr Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose, he says “Having less friends guarantee one’s success in life.” Having a lot of friends leads to distraction and destruction of a person. Many of the successful men do not have a lot of friends.
Furthermore, friends can help increase your self-control. If you struggle to resist temptation, surround yourself with people who possess a high degree of a self-discipline. A psychological science reports that “When people are running low on self-control they often seek out self-disciplined people to boost their will power.” Since self-control is vital in reaching long-term goals, befriending people with good values and self-discipline would be advisable.
Friends can greatly influence your choice. A 2014 study published in the journal of consumer research found that “Friends often connect by providing one another with moral support to resist a temptation. However, friends also commonly conspire to enjoy indulgence. This might be the good indulgence or the bad indulgence. Friends can indulge in positive behaviors like reading. In the other hand, friends can indulge in negative behaviors like stealing.
To sum it up, friendship is important in one’s life but too many friends can jeopardize one’s future. Friendship is like a log with fire, it will affect other logs without fire. So while choosing a friend, choose the ones that will make a worthwhile contribution to your life. An English proverb says “Bird of a feather flock together.” I will end this article by my mentors saying ” Not everyone you greet or you know is your friend.”
Mubarak Abayomi Akapo.
Undergraduate, Department of English Language, Lagos State University.
