#1189: The Friend Fad
People say 'friends come and go' but I never really saw that statement this way. I suppose it tickles me quite a bit when I think about it in this light. I've been a fad friend (as well as a fat friend) before. It's like when it first happens you get this overwhelming joy at finally finding someone you can click so well with. You don't mind meeting them for coffee over the weekend even though you've spent practically the past five days in their company, and you invite them along to practically every event you're attending. You treat them like you would a regular friend, and you think they're doing the same to you but little do you know, you're just a fad friend.
People who have friend fads tend to have them for a variety of reasons. Some of these people are just flighty and get bored of people after a short while and hence have to move on to new people. These people strike me as the sort who are just interested and fascinated in each and every person they meet, until they've unravelled the mysteries behind him/her, and then they get bored and the friendship gets bland so they move on. These are the people who choose to have friend fads i.e. elective friend fadders. And then you have those who have no choice, who have friend fads because nobody can really stay with them for long enough.
This group of people tends to get increasingly desperate to find friends, as the pool of people in the world who have not yet experienced the unpleasant sensation of being around them dwindles. One may even observe them taking more and more extreme means to buy friends, from offering food to offering booze and then eventually even drug highs, just for your company. It is imperative that we learn to recognize this sort, for the sacrifice of time spent in unpleasant company is not worth any number of highs. Another tell-tale sign would be their ever changing personality. In order to up the pull factor for you, they will tend to shape and mould themselves around you so that when you meet them you will think wow this person is totally like me, I could hang out with him/her. This could not be further from the truth, but that is a truth you will eventually come to realize.
After you're done being a fad friend, you will take two steps back and realize how ridiculous you've been this whole time, having not been able to see all these signs. You will ask yourself why you once bothered yourself with the company of someone trying to be just like you just to buy your friendship. You will then watch the poor soul move on to more fad friends, occasionally telling you about them and the new hobbies she/he is into, and secretly laugh to yourself about how pretentious and pathetic this all is. And then you will feel grateful that you actually have real friends and remind yourself to watch out and not fall prey to another one of these pitiful people again.
People who have friend fads tend to have them for a variety of reasons. Some of these people are just flighty and get bored of people after a short while and hence have to move on to new people. These people strike me as the sort who are just interested and fascinated in each and every person they meet, until they've unravelled the mysteries behind him/her, and then they get bored and the friendship gets bland so they move on. These are the people who choose to have friend fads i.e. elective friend fadders. And then you have those who have no choice, who have friend fads because nobody can really stay with them for long enough.
This group of people tends to get increasingly desperate to find friends, as the pool of people in the world who have not yet experienced the unpleasant sensation of being around them dwindles. One may even observe them taking more and more extreme means to buy friends, from offering food to offering booze and then eventually even drug highs, just for your company. It is imperative that we learn to recognize this sort, for the sacrifice of time spent in unpleasant company is not worth any number of highs. Another tell-tale sign would be their ever changing personality. In order to up the pull factor for you, they will tend to shape and mould themselves around you so that when you meet them you will think wow this person is totally like me, I could hang out with him/her. This could not be further from the truth, but that is a truth you will eventually come to realize.
After you're done being a fad friend, you will take two steps back and realize how ridiculous you've been this whole time, having not been able to see all these signs. You will ask yourself why you once bothered yourself with the company of someone trying to be just like you just to buy your friendship. You will then watch the poor soul move on to more fad friends, occasionally telling you about them and the new hobbies she/he is into, and secretly laugh to yourself about how pretentious and pathetic this all is. And then you will feel grateful that you actually have real friends and remind yourself to watch out and not fall prey to another one of these pitiful people again.