Personal Essay Sample about My Friends: The Most Important People In My Life

“The "Found Family" or “Family of Choice” trope refers to a device in literature and media where a group of characters find themselves united in a family-bond based on shared experiences, mutual understanding, and interpersonal connection.” (TVTropes)

I have looked up to very little people my entire life, never once can I recall saying to myself or to others that I thought of anyone as my “hero,” much less that I wanted to be like them.

However, I have always thought of myself and my friends as one, that we are extensions of each other and though I am rather obnoxious at times, my friends have shown themselves to be loyal, honest, and patient.

Most people consider a hero to be a singular person, a superhuman, or somebody who saved them. I consider my friends to be my heros. The people I look at every day and think myself lucky to know are the most important people in my life, I wake up every morning and the first thing I’m greeted to is my friends, and the last voices of the day that I hear are a collage, a chant of “sleep well!” and “I love you, goodnight!” They are the people who have stuck with me, even though they had every right to leave.

On one occasion, I found myself in a situation where I was in an awful friendship with somebody who hated me after a misunderstanding we’d had that led to a fight. They had only kept me around because of our intertwined friend group by that point and I felt awful every time I interacted with them, or in any group involving them. Never once did I actively enjoy being around them and I actually began to dread waking up every day and seeing their messages. My true friends helped me see through my people pleasing attitude to realize that my situation was unhealthy, and I could leave them behind and I would not be alone, that they would be there for me. 

They had every right to leave through my various begging for reassurances and my asking repeatedly over and over if leaving was a good choice. Never once were they obligated to placate my worries with kind words but they did. That experience always reminds me that they are loyal and I can speak to them about everything, including my true feelings in any situation.

Another example of their virtues can be seen in a situation I found myself in because of my tendency to put up with people I dislike for the sake of the people surrounding me, thinking that as long as I get to talk to the people I like then it’s worth it.

Even with my negative thinking my friends have always been honest with me and allowed me to be just as honest with them, even though I dislike some of the people they like they find it in themselves to find flaws in the person too, and understand my point of view. They allow me to discuss with them any actions I find annoying and I do the same for them, even encouraging each other to speak out against the people we disagree with. They expect honesty from me just as much as I do from them, so even when we disagree, we always find common ground even in the littlest of things. They have a patience for the sorts of things I do not.

Correspondingly, patience is a virtue they hold, and it’s not one that comes easily for me. I have irrational anger issues that are best kept under wraps or else it’s easy for me to burn somebody to the ground either with words or if angry enough, actual fire. 

My friends are aware of this and aware of my other issues and they show incredible patience with me, allowing me to handle it at my own pace, understanding that sometimes I may not mean what I say or fully comprehend a situation before I jump to conclusions. For example, a friend of mine named Brookie had jokingly insulted a hyperfixation of mine, a character that I obsess over, and I had gotten upset even almost blocking them on the spot. I didn’t understand that it was a joke and I occasionally fixate so intensely on some characters that I genuinely cannot handle any criticisms against the character, taking it personally. Fortunately, the rest of my friends were understanding and explained how important the character is to me and how I don’t enjoy those types of jokes to Brookie. This helped clear up the situation and kept me from doing something unnecessarily mean. Additionally, because my friends were there to help clear it up, they taught me that patience helps every situation. If I had just waited a small amount of time I’d have seen it was a joke Instead of taking it as the insult I thought it was.

Being patient doesn’t come easy, but it helps if you have friends willing to help you through it.

In conclusion, my friends are truly the most important things to me, and they have many virtues, none being more important than their loyalty, honesty, and patience. They have shown time and time again that we'll always learn from each other. 

Though I may joke that I am the best in the world, I know truly that they will always be better than me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I hope that one day everyone would learn as my friends have taught me; To have patience in life, be honest with others and oneself, and remain loyal to those you hold dear. For these reasons alone I cannot think of any better heroes.