Why you should cherish old friends

This morning at breakfast, I suddenly thought of that one time in Tenerife when my best friend and I thought it was a good idea to go on an excursion to a gorge (?). I don't know what it is with her and excursions, but I always end up hysterically laughing. Even when I twist my ankle and can't take another step. The funny thing is that she always sees what I see and finds funny what I find funny. We are kind of synchronized.

On the run
Did you know that research shows that (long) friendships are just as important as family? In fact, friends become increasingly essential as you get older, because you actually grow older through beautiful friendships. I see myself later, when I am elderly, living in an apartment complex with my love and all my friends around me. Where we then put the geraniums outside and at the end of the afternoon open a bottle. And that little drink makes you fall asleep early, because you are of age. It's my favorite scenario. A kind of Hendrik Groen from the book, where we go on the run.

Let's synchronize
Friends from the past, by the way, there is also something scientifically going on with that. Much research shows that you become older and happier from them, but there is something remarkable. The brain patterns of friends increasingly resemble each other. That immediately explains why you burst into laughter at the same time over something, choose the same line at the entrance of a festival, and often share an opinion. Researchers even saw from patterns on brain scans who were friends and who were not. It's a fact: the scans show that we are synchronized with each other.

I may not see my friends every day. Sometimes not even every year, because one lives in Dubai, another has a busy family, and the next travels the world by camper. But I dare to say with certainty that our brains are still completely in sync if you slide us into a scan. That foundation was laid way back firmly. Friends from the past, even science apparently finds that you should cherish them.

Source: Time.com, Elle.nl