Dear LPG,

Did you know that tomorrow will be designated National Best Friends day?

This got me thinking about who my best friend is. Some of us have more friends than others, but as we get older they tend to fall away somewhat. There are the ones that you vaguely remember from school. I wonder how many of them you are still in touch with and although you might vaguely remember a few of their names, most of those disappear off your radar very quickly after you enter the world of work. There are the ones that have popped in and out of your life as you have popped in and out of the different jobs you have had over the years, and the neighbours might become our friends if you are one of those people who have lived in the same house for a while. Then I have to wonder if your other half is really your best friend, but we don’t have to be experts to know how many single people there are these days. As we get older they have a habit of leaving us for all sorts of reasons.

If all that is not depressing enough, the pandemic that we are still living through has left us pretty friendless because even if your friends are accessible by phone or video calling, human nature dictates that we need to be close to our closest friend geographically from time to time and we have been denied that privilege for over a year.

So, who are we left with? All the above has taught me that the best, best friend that any of us can choose is ourselves.

We are the only person we can really rely on and trust to be there at all times although, usually, we are each our own toughest critics as well. So perhaps if the Covid-19 lock-down experience has taught us nothing else, relegating your best pre-lockdown best friend to a very close second place may not be as selfish an action as it sounds…

CM, Grove Park

CM found some online advice on becoming your own best friend…

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