As a child, you are set off to believe that the more you have of something automatically means the better -- the more candy in your trick-or-treat bag, the more goals you score in your game, the more four leaf clovers you find in the field. Unfortunately, it takes years for us to realize that more is not necessarily better, rather quality is more important than quantity. Fifty random candies in your trick-or-treat bag are better than 100 Tootsie rolls; one goal scored against a tough team shows more talent than five goals scored against a weak one. In my short years of being alive, I have come to realize how important it is to have quality friendships, rather than a large quantity of friends.

We tend to follow the impression that the more friends you have, the better off you are, the more popular you are, or that you’re more important. Fortunately, this is not true. It is easy to befriend a plethora of people, but that does not mean that they will care for you. That does not mean that they will have your back when you most need someone. Of course, there is nothing wrong with have a large quantity of friends, but it is important that this large quantity also provides high quality friendships.

Unfortunately, making friends is not a second nature thing for all people. Some people can do it in their sleep, while others struggle day in and day out to make a single friend. Sure, we all have several acquaintances, but true friends are harder to come by. With that being said, it is easy to settle for friends in the same way people settle for love. We hold onto unhealthy friendships full of lies and drama, or settle into friendships with people who truly don’t match with us. It can be hard to find others whom enjoy the same interests as you and share a similar personality. It can also be hard to simply open up to people in order to start a potential friendship. With this being said, I am truly blessed for the small quantity, high quality friends that I do have.

We have all been in that situation where you’re not asked to be in the picture being taken because you’re not apart of the squad (shame on them for being rude about it), or left out of the inside joke. Truthfully, it doesn’t feel good. There will always be rude, selfless people out there who will use you as a convenient friend, or the photographer of their squad. These are the friendships that prove a quality friendship over high quantity.

I wouldn’t trade my friends for the world, and I would hope that you would say the same about yours. Sure, sometimes it sounds appealing to be that girl, the spotlight of attention with all of the friends, but then I quickly remember that I hate attention focused on myself, and would way rather be surrounded by a small crowd than an overbearing large one. It is important to realize the true friendships we hold in life -- the friends who bring you Panera soup when you are sick, answer your phone call at three in the morning, let you pick the movie on movie night and simply stay in touch because they like you and care about you. It’s the little things that true friends do that make the friendship strong.

It is important to realize that people will judge you by the amount of friends you have to see whether you are cool or a lonesome loser, but by no means does a small clique make you any less than someone with 20 acquaintances. As I sit here as a young adult, finally wrapping my head around the person I am and the people I want to surround myself with in life, I wish I and many other young children would have known this at a younger age; it would save a lot of children’s tears and feelings of needing to please everyone. When the quality of friendship is focused on, over the quantity, there is a lot more love to be felt and a lot more happiness in each an every day.