Brysons Blog Entry "The Importance of Friends" #4

Being alone is dangerous, once you’re in a bad place alone its next to impossible to get out, but with the help of some friends it gives you a fighting chance to get better. I was a quiet kid I didn’t talk to a lot of people growing up and really didn’t have friends.  From kindergarten to about 5^th grade I went to a school called Sundance elementary. Here is where I found my first group of friends, we hit it off! I thought these we’re the friends I would have for a lifetime. Come 5^th grade my mom pulled me aside and said, “you’re going to be switching schools”. I was devastated I was about to leave the friends I had tried to so hard to make and grown up with. This was a disaster. As the 5^th grade year came to an end the sadness just kept creeping in like a lion stalking its prey. I didn’t know what to do I had to say my goodbyes.

During the summer of 5^th grade my old friends and I grew distant, I was losing my friends. We didn’t play outside as much since I moved away, and it made it hard to see each other. No matter how hard we tried to stay friends the distance became too much. My friends and I had separated for good no way of contacting each other. I grew sadder and sadder as the summer progressed. As a 12-year-old I couldn’t handle this sadness I was developing depression and grew distant from even my parents. I was a mess. Come the beginning of 6^th grade I year I became what was known as the “quiet kid” I didn’t know how to talk to anyone in this new environment. Everyone had already developed their own friend groups and I was the kid that just sat alone. About 2 months into my first year at Cottonboll Elementary I still had not made any friends and my depression grew worse and worse some kids noticed it and began to pick on me for always being quiet or for how I looked it was a big blow to my self-esteem and an even bigger blow to my mental state. I began to develop these thought that no one liked me and that no one would even give me the time of day to even talk to them. This bullying went on inside and outside the classroom for months to come.

This bullying became to much for me as time went on, I had made it known to the teachers, but they couldn’t do anything, this only made things worse, and I got bullied even more for bringing it up to the teachers. As time progressed, I became an outcast to the school the kid no one talked to, that was until one faithful day at lunch. In the morning of this day, I had talked to my mom about the problems I had been facing at school. The advice she gave me was some I don’t think ill ever forget, she had said to me, “If you never leave your comfort zone and do something you don’t normally do, you’ll never grow”. I took this advice and used it that same day. At lunch we sat in the cafeteria on big wooden banquette tables across and next to each other. I normally tried to sit alone because I had the thought no one would like to sit with me. This day would be the day I finally step out of my comfort zone. I saw a group of kids that I had picked out to be my potential friends, so I went over to their table and sat down. At this table sat 3 boys I had seen around but never spoke to, I had sat down across from them and started eating. They took one good look at me and thought it was weird that I sat down next to them. They started to ask me question and me being naive I thought they would want to be my friends. So, I stared to answer their questions and after each response they would laugh and make fun of me for the things I answered with. I was getting noticeably upset, and it gave them another topic to laugh about. This went on for several minutes until I heard a voice call out telling these group of boys to leave me alone. I looked to my right and saw and blonde boy standing right next to the table looking at the three bullies. This boy went on to tell them to stop making fun of me and even offered to let me sit at his table with him and his friends.

After this boy invited me over to his table and I got to know all for of his friends. These 5 boys had decided that they wanted me as a friend and even invited me to play games with them at recess. I was ecstatic that they wanted me to join them. I got to know these 5 individuals for the next few months, and they had become my group of friends. We did everything together we would even hangout outside of school, doing all this made me the happiest I had been in a while. I was starting to get some happiness back; I was leaving the slump I was in. These 5 individuals are still my friends to this day. They brought me out of my depression, built up my self-esteem and made me happy. Being alone for so long had put me in a bad mental state but with these friends around I was nothing but happy. Without these friends I don’t think I would have ever left the depression state I was in. I’ve learned a lot from being with friends and how they can really impact your life for the better. Its very important to have friends you can talk to, people to talk to about your problems without judging you. Being alone is dangerous, once you’re in a bad place alone its next to impossible to get out, but with the help of some friends it gives you a fighting chance to get better.