What Is The Difference Between Love And Friendship?

Love and friendship – two of the greatest blessings that humans should feel thankful for, every single day, for making our days better, our lives better, and ultimately ourselves better. For those who have experienced fully the journey traversed in friendships or the beautiful and sometimes difficult terrain of a meaningful relationship, you would know that friendship fills you with love, and love is, for the most part, transcendental friendship. Therefore, to distinguish between these two verbally vulnerable and emotionally organic concepts that have offered a different experience to every single occupant of this planet, is more than a mountainous task.

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Let’s begin with the foundation of these concepts as an experience, not to formulate a theory for them. One of the quintessential characteristics of both love and friendship is the overwhelming nature of caring and comfort, offered and received. There is nothing like barging into your friend’s room in search of her shoulder because that’s instinct for your tears. You know she’s there for you. If you are in a relationship, you know your partner would sit all night until dawn listening to why and how your day went all wrong. In true friendship and love, the happiness of the other is an important element that keeps it going.

[Read More: How To Fall In Love – A Ten Step Guide]

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Another beautiful part of both friendship and love is that in the most sincere forms of these relationships we find the truest of our selves. Now and then when you fart in front of your friend, he goes like “Ey, baas kaun maara bey!” Similarly, you find yourself easily turn into an adamant baby in front of your partner when otherwise you are the personification of composure. Friends teach us to be ourselves without any lessons, and in a good relationship we learn that we have a true self that also deserves to be loved, no matter what we are made of.

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There are parts of the concept of friendship and that of a relationship that are almost exclusively found only in one or the other, as compared to the broad overlapping features we just saw earlier. The freedom and ease found in the company of one friend, and some of the interests you share with that person, is almost always different from another. Therefore, you find yourself in a different experience every time you hang out with a different friend, and let’s not even mention the fun and rage when your gang gets together! Just as much noise friends and friendships do add in your life, the exclusivity of the space shared by you and your partner can be an entirely different zone of fun altogether, if you know what I mean! Not just sex, you perv. Of course the physical intimacy is one of the most enjoyable expressions of the love you two share, but if you are in a fulfilling relationship, you know there’s so much more.

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Learning the quirks about your partner, like how when you tell them you lost something, they can’t sleep until they find it, or their fear of spiders and/or clowns (and of course, using that information to prank them on their birthdays or a better time); going out of your way to surprise the other in his/her office for a lunch date; enjoying a quiet evening snuggled up on a rug or the couch, sipping your coffees in silence… that is a whole set of fun that you just know you can have only with your special someone.

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If it is the beauty of romance in one and brash openness in the other, unconditional feeling of love or the resilience of true friendship – no matter what makes them same or different from one another, love and friendship have the true power to change from one to the other, and change you along the way.