Hina Javed Malik
When you have a friendship that lasts longer than seven years, it seems like you have a bond and there is a good chance the friendship will last a lifetime.
However, there is a catch. Research by Dutch sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst at Utrecht University states that the majority of friendships tend to be fleeting as friendship is usually determined by opportunities rather than personal choices.
Irrespective of the duration of friendship, many relationships go apart because of a lack of opportunities to be together in the same context e.g school, college, office, etc.
All relationships do not necessarily have a shelf life. If friendship is mutually meaningful with same interest, it nurtures. After all, birds of the same feather flock together.
If we do not stay in touch with our friends for a longer period of time. The friendship usually converts into something like “I know him, we’ve worked together” or “yes, we studied together for 4 years in college”. Because of the lack of staying in touch, new friends tend to replace old ones simply because they are in your active contact list.
Despite all scientific research, there definitely is some truth to friendships that last more than 7 years and last a lifetime. Yes, it is true — some friendships do last a lifetime.
Everyone is different when it comes to an answer to what makes a friendship work.
Friendship demands equal efforts from both sides, requires time, and most importantly empathy which essentially means, being able to understand each other’s point of view and respect that.
It also means, to be able to understand how your friend feels, to be able to understand the crisis they are going through in life without they revealing it to you. A good friendship also signals out to be able to understand why they have slightingly distanced themselves from you, to be able to understand what makes them happy and what makes them sad. A secret receipe of a good frienship is, to be able to understand what they want to say to you but can not express.
Truth is, you could have hundreds of thousands of friends but you stay connected to ones who actually share the passion with good faith with you. “A good bond” between two people determines the duration of a friendship. Better the “bond”, the longer the friendship.
Friends are important in your life. Got an old friend you are not in touch with recently but had a wonderful time with in the past? Pick up your phone ask how are they keeping up and just tell them “I am missing you“
