Do You Know Everything About Your Best Friends?

best-friends-know-minion-favim-com-3023295The other day I heard something that really made me think, so I wanted to share it here to hear your thoughts.

Someone told me something to this effect: “One of my favorite things is that I will never know everything about my friends, even my closest friends. There’s always more to know about them, more to learn. And because they’re my friends, I’m genuinely interested in learning more.”

I really love this idea. It made me think about my closest friends and how there’s still so much more to know about them if I ask the right questions or initiate the right conversations.

Also, it was a good reminder about the things I do that prevent me from learning more about friends. For example, I sometimes assume truths about my friends that were once true but no longer are. Or maybe they never were.

I feel a certain level of comfort in knowing my friends (and to be known). It’s nice for every conversation not to be deep or important–sometimes it’s okay to just talk about Westworld for an hour. I’d be exhausted if I was always having deep conversations with everyone.

My final takeaway is that I want to make an effort to learn something new about my friends in every conversation. When I’m nearing the end of a conversation, I’ll ask myself, “Other than just having fun, have I really learned anything new about this friend?” If not, I’ll try to ask something that helps me assume less and know more.

I want to celebrate the idea that there is so much more to know about my friends. Isn’t that exciting? It’s like finishing an amazing book and learning that it’s just the first book of a trilogy and the two books have already been released!

How do you continue to learn about your friends?

2 thoughts on “Do You Know Everything About Your Best Friends?”

  1. Jamey,

    So, while after knowing many of my friends for more than 30 years, I thought it might be fun to put my daughter and her best friend to the test. At my daughter’s 17th birthday, I had taken both of them to dinner. In advance of the event, I had prepared 20 questions ranging from “What’s your best friend’s favorite color?” to “what’s one place in the world she would love to visit in her lifetime?” and many more. Surprisingly, they both scored in the 12-14 range…not bad for a pair of 17 year olds.

    Cheers,
    Joe

    Reply

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