Friends are the family you choose...

I love this quote simply because I believe it's so true. You don't have to be friends with anyone. No one is going to make you be friends with them. You aren't forced to spend hours and hours with the same people if you don't want to. You simply choose to. 

You know you're friends with someone when you send them a Snapchat of yourself with no makeup and 3 extra chins, or when you know exactly what they're thinking with just one look or (as I've found out more recently) when you say or need the exact same thing as them at the same time (ehem Emma). There is nothing quite like having a private joke where you can just look at your friend(s) and say one thing and you all burst into fits of laughter with that one memory. 

Friends are there for everything, the good times and the bad, with advice, help and a big hug to make you feel better. Recently I've been so grateful for my friends. I realise that I'm not the easiest person to be friends with, especially when I'm anxious or in a really bad mood (or if I'm extremely tired and hungry!). But despite this my friends stick by me and I'm so grateful for that (thanks gals). 

I think when you are growing up who you are friends with, and who you aren't, helps to shape who you are and make you the person you become. You realise your likes and dislikes, your pet hates and your favourite things, what makes you laugh, what makes you cry. Friends are there when you aren't sure if an outfit suits you or to help you do your hair or make up. To let you copy their homework if you've forgotten to do it and to back you up in an argument.  To go to One Direction concerts with you and dance until your feet hurt, to go to festivals and listen to music until your ears hurt and to go shopping with until your purse is empty. Ultimately they are there to make the memories that shape your life. 

One Direction!!

One of my oldest friends and I 

I personally think that friends are essential in helping you grow and develop, supporting you through challenges you may not have believed possible to succeed in. I have doubted myself so many times, and I still do, but I've always had someone pushing me to do it and believing in me. This is probably most prominent within the rowing club where everyone helps and supports each other. I've had so many deep conversations with some of the rowers and always walked away feeling supported, it's just so nice knowing people care.

The rowers aka best people ever 

I recently had a self-esteem talk in school and we ended up writing our name on a blank piece of paper which we then passed around the room and people wrote anonymous messages about what they thought of you (all positive of course). I'd done this before but it was within my form group which meant we were all quite close. Doing it in a larger group with people you don't know a lot about seemed to have more of an impact on me. I received lovely messages, most of which I didn't know who they were from which made it special. There were people in the room I'd literally only exchanged a few sentences with in the past year yet they still had lovely things to say about me, and me about them. We all left the class with huge Cheshire cat smiles spreading across our face.

I think what I'm trying to say is don't take your friends for granted because they don't have to be your friend, they want to. Don't be someones friend to use them, be their friend because you want to, because it'll make you happier. I think friends are one of the world's greatest things. 

Much Love

Charlotte

XO

One of my favourite photos ever