What Are Friends For?

As friends are integral beings in our lives–especially since such relationships burgeon greatly in our college years–I thought it best to share an article I’ve written on their importance.

Friends are companions, true carers of your well-being, and just overall fantastic people one is able to surround themselves with. They are relationships; bonds established through even the simplest of circumstances before they are validated through personal means. Friendships can start anywhere, but it is what they blossom into that can create the greatest gifts a person can have: uncontainable happiness, memories, and laughs. Friends are the people you become your weirdest self around. They are the humans who help you through the bad times, and the ones that make your good times greater.

I’ve met with a variety of people in my life who hold different perspectives on friends in the ideological sense. Some are able to encircle themselves within a promising group, and some, envy the thought of even having someone to lean on.

I, for one, am a very blessed individual with friends I consider family more than anything else. At twenty years of age, I’ve known some of my greatest friends for almost fifteen years. Some I’ve known for just a couple. With all of them though, I share a distinct and inseparable bond that unites us to one another at the end of the day. I don’t know where I’d be without them. The closest ones keep my head on straight, calm me when I’m angered, and present their shoulders for when I’m sad. Greatest of all, they are the supporters of my dreams, and hear me loudest even when my voice is at its lowest.

What’s most amazing, is that for as much as they are there for me, I strive harder to be there for them. I enjoy it; helping put smiles and giving advice to the people I care for most. It seems that their contributions to my health are always greater though, and like I said, for the ones that matter most, I don’t know where I’d be without them.

Friends are honest, and the best ones are brutally true. Friends are exhilarating and usually make you feel it too. You see them as one of a kind, and they usually are. It’s a beautiful thing though, that with 7 billion people in the word, our eyes can still find what make just a few extraordinary.

Sadly, friendship can sometimes be pain. It can sting when trust is broken. It’s sore when friendship fades. And it tugs both your heart and mind into a conundrum when it is time to let go of relationships you never believed you would have to. It’s not true that only a significant other can break your heart. Friends can do that too, and sometimes, it almost hurts worse. It hurts the greatest when the person you loved was your best friend too. But pain is pain. It lasts until it diminishes, and one way or another, your body will find peace.

And when friendship is too much pain, and your treading on uneven ground, and you fear not being yourself, it is then that you must decide what kind of people you want to have in your life. As hard as it is can be to say goodbye, it is vital to surround yourself with people who appreciate you for who you are; not for what they could morph you into. Friendships aren’t controlling. Friendships aren’t vindictive. Friendships aren’t ceaseless pain.

Friendships are non-toxic relationships that are dependable, full of energy, and most importantly, desirable.

Friendships are important; they’re necessary. It’s not because we need people, but because we need kindness, love, and good energy. Humans should be able to spread that around, but friends exist to ensure it.

Friends are the people you get to choose to have in your life, and when I look at mine, I become very thankful for the person that I am. I trusted myself and allowed these great people to come into my life. That is what I believe a person must do to find people they cherish: start by loving yourself first. If we could escape our insecurities, acknowledge our needs, and who we are first, then the people we choose to become such great forces in our lives will acknowledge the same.

I’m very grateful for the people I love. They hear me when no one else will listen. They make me attentive to the truth even when I cant bear it. They make me laugh when I need it most, and make me forget what tormented me before. They are unconditional in their love. They are true. They are my friends, and I’m a better person because of them.

-Kiran Bains Sahota ( sunsetdahlia.wordpress.com )

A Letter: Addressing Sleep

Dear Sleep,

What is your issue with me? Have I done something to upset the fragile boundaries of your peculiar establishment? Or do you just have me scheduled to retire at the hours of those taking residence in India? Or China, perhaps? If so, I hope you realize that I live in California. There is no body of water that separates me from my restful neighbors. Just a fence, a patch of grass, and some walls. So why is it that I tire throughout the normal hours of the day, and when I finally am inclined to rest, I lay my head on my pillow and close my eyes to no avail?

I hear you have a thing against college students. That’s right, I’m one of them. Just so you know, our bodies need sleep just as any other normal individual’s would. I need to avoid bags under my eyes, or crossness when I rise, for no one likes to deal with me in that state. People like me when I get my rest, but so far, I blame you for my lack of achieving any.

You might wonder why I blame you. Well, for starters, your timing is awful. I mean, I didn’t ask for sleep while I was reading David Hume’s Political Discourses, but next thing you know—my face slips from my hand and slams into the text, and I am submerged in a pool of my own drool. I also didn’t require that such sleep overcome me during the ever-enlightening “Murder Mystery of the Ice Man” video during my anthropology class. It was also unnecessary for me to be startled awake in front of everyone, just because a caveman grunted too loudly.  And seriously? As I put on the finishing touches of my essay—spiffing up my bibliography— you just have to come in and pull at my eyelids! Then, when I succumb to the yawns and drooping lashes by tucking myself into bed, you are suddenly whisked away, and my pupils are just staring into space, unable to find solace in the dreaming or waking world.

So I sometimes eat gummy bears for breakfast or I adorn a few extra sprinkles on my ice cream for dessert. A little sugar helps to stay up for the long nights of unending homework that constantly beckons me to rise from my couch. Such homework, like the essay I have to write that is due tomorrow, include the specific times in which you, Sleep, must stay away from me (and please don’t bring up that this essay was assigned three weeks ago–I had things to do). And it shouldn’t matter that my studying habits include snap chatting and Googling where Taylor Swift is in the world; I may extend my hours through procrastination, but you have to abide by my schedule if we are to work cohesively.

You might say I’m a bit demanding in my simple request; well, that’s what happens when I get three hours of sleep.

Sincerely Yours,

A college student who needs a nap

-Kiran Bains Sahota ( sunsetdahlia.wordpress.com)

Lizard Be Creepin’

With the weekend approaching on a beautiful and sunny Friday, chores could be put off no longer.

It was an intense stare down! I was mowing the lawn on the side of the house when I spotted a lizard chillin’ under the house looking out through the small netted air vent. The grass was extremely tall and unfortunately my lawn mower was having a bad day. Never the less it chopped the long green blades of grass while the small black beady eyes of the ever so curious lizard watched as I went around and around.

I would look its way and it would have turned around. I would sneak a glance its way again and it would be watching me. This went on for ten minutes until at last the fresh abundant of fresh wet grass was gone. I looked for the lizard but the lizard had left. It saw what it wanted to see and it gazed no more my way. I kind of miss him but something tells me we shall see each other again.

That was not my first stare down…I have been followed by a bird. Seriously…That’s for another time.

Unfortunately my lawn mower could not keep up with its chores today. It fainted a few times and I had to revive it with a battery starter. Worry no more, I grew exhausted and had to push it to the shed. I now understand why men kick machines when things don’t go well….

With school always taking a good portion of every student’s time, it is very important to find a day that you can be productive around the house. With the yard work done and a little homework put to rest, I am anxiously waiting for my best friend to arrive so we can talk about our eventful day. I hope everyone had a great day! See you all next Friday!

Fun fact: According to BioExpedition, “Lizards are able to smell by tasting the air around them. This is why they are often seen with their tongues going in and out at a rapid pace.”

For more facts about lizards: http://www.bioexpedition.com/lizards/facts-about-lizards/