Friendship (also loneliness and shyness) - Essay Example

I have been able to assess the fact that a person comes across different friends in his life and that it is with time and maturity a person acquires mental compatibility with a friend. When I was in elementary school, I had friends in my class. The basic aim of friendship at that level of my life was basically to go to school and play with my friends during breaks. Friends were there to spend time with during lunch time and to discuss the different cartoons that we watched. We used to eat our lunch together and this was the level of enjoyment at that age.

With time things change and the meaning of friendship changed in high school. I had a lot of friends but there was a group of very close friends. The meaning of friendship had matured and it was no more restricted to eating lunch together or playing games. It had rather acquired a broader perspective. Friends were there during difficult times. I could now discuss and share my problems with my friends and seek for their advice and assistance in the matters where they could be of help. The same implied to them as they could also come and discuss the issues that they had.

We had similar opinions and thoughts on a lot of matters but there were discussions and arguments on issues where we differed in our stands. This clearly implied the fact that we had a lot of similarities but we had our own opinions and thoughts and hence we did differ in our personalities from one another. Loneliness A good social circle and friends are very important for a person. If a person does not have a good social life, he tends to become lonely. The reduction in the number of friends is also associated with less people to interact with.

At the same time, it also means that a person has less people of his age group to discuss his problems with. A lower level of social interaction can prove to lay a long lasting effect on a person’s personality. My cousin who is only 14 years old has problems in interacting with people. He does not have many friends and this can be counted as one of the reasons why he does not like going to school. This was not the case when he was in primary school. He was a bright kid and he loved to engage in play activities.

His teachers would always praise him and they suggested that he should apply for moving a grade ahead owing to his increased capabilities than the children of his age. His annual reports always made his parents proud and they used to discuss his future options. Things changed when he entered high school as this school was in another state. His family had to move from the state where he completed his primary education. He became lonely in this new atmosphere. He did not have friends as all the children had their own circle of friends by then.

He was lonely and he totally changed from what he actually was. My cousin could not cope up with this loneliness. He stopped interacting with his family as well and became a very quiet child. He was not as active as he used to be when he was a child. This was followed by the fact that his grades dropped in school. He had to get enrolled in summer classes but that did not help much. He did not like going to school. I have now analyzed the fact that the problem behind all his problems is basically his loneliness.

The fact that he could not interact with children of his ag