Isn’t it weird how you can be so different from people in your family, yet so close to people who were once strangers? Isn’t it crazy how the people you meet outside your home often know you better than those you’ve been living with for years? Isn’t it funny how our friends are better depictions of ourselves than our own flesh and blood?
Is it because we reflect the kind of person we are onto others or is it because we act like the people we’re around most? I’m not sure there’s an exact answer, but I do know that good friends have a habit of mirroring each other. Friends have the distinct way of reflecting back each other's fears, insecurities and strengths in the most comforting ways.
Because in life, you don’t need a tall mirror, but rather, a long-standing friend.
Unlike with mirrors, with a good friend you’ll never see yourself backwards. You’ll never see yourself through steamy reflections or cracked façades. Because unlike the deceiving portraits of a “skinny mirror” or a dimly lit bathroom, you’ll always see yourself in true form when you’re with your best friends.
They know everything about you. They know your flaws, your insecurities, your imperfections. They know your good sides and your bad ones. They know what you look like when you dress up and when you’re just feeling like sh*t. They know how you really feel about that botched dye job and those invisible braces -- but they also know so much more.
They are the best reflection you have of yourself because they hold tiny pieces of you. You pick up habits from each other, molding and growing around one another's comforting embraces. You distinctly pick and choose people based on interest and feelings. They're a reflection of you because they are attached to you. And you to them.
In them, you should see yourself. The things you like, the kinds of people you get along with, the jokes that make you laugh. You are one unit at many times, and that unit can be a better mirror than the one framed in gold in your living room.
You reflect off those around you.
The common saying is, “you are what you eat,” but I think it’s really closer to something like, “you are who you eat with.” Whether you realize it or not, you’re forming habits and picking up idiosyncrasies from those you’re around the most. The way we talk, think and enjoy ourselves molds around the ones we spend our time with.
If you want to get an idea of who you are and how you’re perceived, take a look at the company you keep. They're the people who have the same sense of humor as you, same ideas of fun and many times, the same ideals. While you guys may be different in a myriad of ways, there’s a few distinct overlapping traits you can’t help but share.
They see you for who you really are.
There’s no makeup around them, no dressing up. They know you: what you look like and what you wished you looked like. They know you for all your insecurities and all those things you won’t even admit to yourself. They are the only people who see you more clearly than you see yourself. Because all those things we don’t want to see, admit or face in the mirror is reflected in them.
They are the true mirror, the true ones we must stand before.
Our friends are representations and extensions of ourselves. They hold our secrets and our regrets. They hold all that baggage that is sometimes too heavy for us to carry; they hold on to pieces of our past we don't always want to look at.
They represent you better than yourself... sometimes.
Your friends are a representation of who you are. Who you choose to hang out with, who you connect with and pick out of all the people in the world says something about not just them, but you, too. Those who you understand and those who understand you should not be taken lightly.
Your best friend, your group, your crew -- they're all extensions of you. While you have your own identity and unique personality, there's something that connects you to them and them to you. You guys represent each other; you are each other's gang and each other's symbol.
You are the company you keep, aren't you?
Photo Courtesy: We Heart It
