When a person is upset, they usually have two options: the first is to isolate themselves, and the second is to hang out with supportive friends.
I generally prefer surrounding myself with my friends. However, it is important to remember that everyone deals with different things differently. Hence, in this blog, we will understand how being around supportive friends or being in solitude can impact you.
Also read, True Friendship in 2024
Being Around Supportive Friends
Friendship and support go hand in hand. That’s the best part about friendships; sometimes we do not need to tell our friends about anything, yet they understand what we feel. Friends help you in all your struggles. Whether it is giving you advice, supporting you, making you laugh, helping you get through a tough time or simply goofing around together.
Whenever I feel low, I make sure to surround myself with my friends. With them, I can be myself and openly vent about my feelings, and they will instantly make me feel better.
Benefits & Disadvantages Of Being AroundSupportive Friends When You Feel Low
Everything has its benefits and disadvantages. Being around friends can hardly be a bad thing, but being dependent on them can be. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to seeking supportive friendship when you are low, these are:
Benefits
1) Emotional Support
Sometimes just sitting beside a friend, talking to them about your experience and your feelings can reduce stress. Moreover, with some friends, we don’t even need to communicate, they understand us without saying any words. This brings a sense of comfort that helps makes us feel valued and supported.
When you are around your friends, you are in a better mood, you can vent to them and can share your feelings and laugh together. Friends have the power to make you feel better and forget your problems even if it is temporary.
2) Advice
Often, when we are not in a good mental space, we tend to make a lot of bad decisions. In such a scenario, a friend can help us understand and guide us to the right part. Moreover, when we are stressed, overwhelmed, or not in the state of mind to figure out a solution, a true friend can help and give us advice on what we should do and how we can deal with that particular situation.
3) Provides Distraction
When you are in solitude and feeling low, your thoughts may likely spiral, you may overthink, and you may end up isolating yourself. It can prove to be very bad for your mental health. However, when you sit with your friends, they provide a temporary distraction from your problems which is important.
4) Increases Confidence
Often when we are feeling low, we start to lose confidence in ourselves. However, being with supportive friends reminds us about our positive traits, our strengths, and helps us regain our confidence.
Disadvantages
You might be surprised, but being surrounded by friends when you feel low can have it’s own disadvantages. Some of them are:
1) Creates Dependency
While friends can provide emotional support and uplift our mood, we can’t depend on friends to make us happy. If we aren’t comfortable being alone, we won’t be happy without being dependent on someone which increases dependency.
2) Overburdening Friends
Just imagine, your friend is upset about something, and every time you meet her she only speaks about one problem over and over again, it can get annoying right? Similarly, sometimes we do not realise that when we are venting and sharing we forget to ensure that our friend is in the mind space to listen to us which ends up overburdening them and this in the long term can strain the friendship.
3) Lack Of Professional Help
When we are dealing with too much or a traumatic event, our friends can help us get through a hard time, but they can’t provide professional help. Hence, when you feel the need, you must consider seeking professional help as it can help you improve your mental health.
4) Wrong Advice
Friends often share advice in difficult situations, and while the advice may help us, it does not necessarily mean it applies to your current situation. Because while our friends may know us and the situation, no one understands the depth of our problems like we do ourselves. Hence, there is a chance you may get the wrong advice.
Staying In Solitude
Some people prefer staying in solitude when they are upset, and it can be a good thing in the sense of being at peace with your mind even when your mind is in chaos. However, it can impact your mental health immensely when you begin to completely isolate.
When you begin to completely isolate for a long time, it becomes very difficult to manage emotions. Many people have the fear of being completely alone, and not having someone beside them. This is why having a supportive friendship is important.
You may be wondering if being dependent on friends for emotional support, and being isolated is bad then what should you truly do when you feel low? Well, the answer is a balance of both. You must learn to be alone, but you need to ensure you don’t spiral into isolation. For this, you must spend some time with friends, family and surround yourself with people who love you and but also learn to be alone and manage your thoughts, feelings, and emotions healthily.
One of the best practices to help through stressful times is journaling, and meditation. These techniques are highly effective and recommended by professionals. These techniques help one to regulate their emotions healthily.
Also read: Low-Maintenance Friendship: The Unspoken Rules of Lifelong Friendships