How important are friends and family to you?

Happiness consists of many components, including loving family and faithful friends. Both these
social groups are very important for each person. Everyone needs support, love and attention.
When we are happy, we need close people to share our happiness with them. When we are
sad, we need family and friends to support us.

I think those, who have at least two or three really close and trustworthy people beside
them, are really lucky. In my opinion, family is much more important than money, success or
fame. After all, parents are the only people who love us the way we are. Friends are not
less important, but we can never be sure how true they will stay to us in different situations.
Sometimes friends can betray. It is not easy to find true and faithful friends, but when we
do, they stay for a lifetime and become as close as the family.

There is a famous proverb, “blood is thicker than water”. It means that blood relations are
stronger and more important than friendships. But that remains a matter of opinion. Friend is
someone you choose to be in your life, but you can not choose your family. Anyway, do not
take it for granted, that definitely does not mean family is not important.

Family is almost always there for you in times of need. Your parents stay awake with you
when you are sick, work hard everyday to earn money to put food on the table, buy you
new clothes, video games, everything. They teach you how to speak, walk, and even clean
yourself after you go potty. Elder brothers help you with sports and different issues, sisters
keep your secrets and tease you all the time, uncles give you money when they visit, and
aunts tell your mother to let you do stuff.

But it is not all good. In families, there are often disagreements and disputes, especially
regarding some important issues, such as choosing a future profession. Some want to see
you as a doctor and some as an economist, but even if you choose your own way, family
will not turn away from you and will remain with you until the end. Probably having survived
many trials together, friends become family.

At the same time, friends do not indicate what to do, vice versa, they try to find the right
solution with you. They just hope you do well enough in life to make a decent living, and
treat them to dinner once in a while. Friends will not care if you get a F grade in an exam
but they will care if you watch the new episode of your favourite TV show without them.
However, this does not mean that you need to reject the opinion of the parents and only be
on the side of your friends. No. Making any decisions, from insignificant to fateful, you must
consider the views of both parties and make your single right decision.

But in the end both family and friends wish you only the best. Do not forget it. They are
equally important: you can share anything with your friends without fear of being judged, but
family always stay with you no matter what happens. Life can not be fulfilled without any of
them.