From the author: Personal Save me, my friends! Sometimes I live and don’t understand who I am to whom. And very often, it turns out that I think one thing, but in fact, everything is completely different. I started thinking about what kind of friend I was after my conversation with the man I loved. Without going into details, I’ll just write that he assured me that I don’t know how to be a friend, that’s why I don’t have friends, and the people with whom I’m friends are not friends at all. It was unpleasant for me to hear this statement from the person I love?! Yes, it’s unpleasant to hear this from, in general, any person. I was very indignant then, how come I don’t know how to be a friend?! In fact, he was partially right. 1000 devils. Why was he right in many ways? It's just annoying. For as long as I can remember, I was a subhuman, very closed to communication. "White crow". I protected myself and my life, not only from strangers, but also from childhood friends, acquaintances, classmates, etc. and I never thought whether it was good or bad. The older I got, the more my circle of contacts narrowed. Until it was completely narrowed down to just one friend. She, of course, has long crossed the threshold of friendship, and is already like a sister. But nevertheless, this is one person. And now, it’s time to ask yourself the question: who is this friend? What does this word even mean to me? Is my theory true that true friendship, perhaps, only begins from the cradle, or from kindergarten, the extreme case is school. No more, no less. How else can you create friendship? It takes time. Like good wine. In sorrow and joy, in sickness and in health, as they say. Only in this way, by communicating closely, do you understand that this person will not betray, will lend his shoulder in a difficult moment, and will certainly rejoice at your successes. But, if this theory is true, then the people I am friends with now, who are they to me and who am I to them? After all, our friendship began quite recently, about five years ago, and with some even less. Does this mean that this is just an illusion of friendship? Or another theory: if my friends asked me to be godmother to their child, is this an indicator of friendly trust? Or have the circumstances developed so that there is no one else to ask, but the child needs to be baptized? Or both?! And here, too, there is no correct answer. Because I can see it in my own way, and they can see it in theirs. In fact, all the questions I ask myself here have one conclusion. Everything, everything in my life, I do for myself, and not for anyone. It’s nice for me to be a friend or girlfriend, it’s nice for me to lend a shoulder in difficult times, to rejoice at my friend’s success. Although I still need to work on the latter))) Who those people with whom I am friends think I am is their business. I like it when I can spend my free time with my goddaughters, and of course, when I don't have free time, I will make it for them. I like it when I can just chat with my girlfriends on the phone and when they ask questions about my work. It's just a blast. Make friends with yourself and other people like you. What is the new meaning for me in the word friend? I know how to be a friend because I am friends with myself. Some events in my life made me understand that I need to trust myself first of all and be able to come to my own aid, to be myself in sorrow and in joy, in sickness and in health. This is the only way I can be a friend to someone else. And these are not just big words. I notice that I stopped getting nervous if my friends couldn’t help me in some matter; I don’t think that if a person promised to do something, then he must fulfill it. Because I became friends with myself.