this i believe essay about friendship

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This I Believe

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Celebrating Four Years Of 'This I Believe'

April 27, 2009 • During its four-year run on NPR, This I Believe engaged listeners in a discussion of the core beliefs that guide their daily lives. We heard from people of all walks of life — the very young and the very old, the famous and the previously unknown.

Saying Thanks To My Ghosts

April 26, 2009 • Novelist Amy Tan hasn't always believed in ghosts, but as a writer she's had too many inspirations that she can't fully explain. Now, Tan embraces her belief in ghosts and the messages of joy, love and peace they bring her.

Life Is An Act Of Literary Creation

April 23, 2009 • Mexican-American novelist Luis Urrea used to think that simply being a good observer would make his writing better. But over time, he's come to believe that being a good writer and a good person comes from paying attention to the world around him.

The Art Of Being A Neighbor

April 12, 2009 • A few years ago, Eve Birch was broke and living alone in a dilapidated mountain shack. But a community of people befriended her, shared what little they had with her and showed Birch the value of neighbors uniting to help one another.

Muhammad Ali John Lair/Muhammad Ali Center hide caption

I Am Still The Greatest

April 6, 2009 • To be the "Greatest of All Time," boxing legend Muhammad Ali says you have to believe in yourself. It's a lesson his parents taught him and it has helped him in fighting Parkinson's disease.

Dancing To Connect To A Global Tribe

March 29, 2009 • Matt Harding has been to 70 countries to dance — badly — in front of a camera, and videos of his travels have become an Internet sensation. Harding believes interacting with so many different people challenges him to understand what unites humanity.

My Father Deserves Spectacular Results

March 26, 2009 • Environmental activist Van Jones is a special adviser to the Obama administration. He says his dad, who died last year, would have gotten a kick out of seeing Obama become president. But his dad had high standards, and there is much more work to be done.

The Beatles Live On

March 15, 2009 • Macklin Levine was born more than 25 years after the Fab Four broke up, but at 12, she has a deep appreciation for Beatles music. "As old as the songs are, you can learn a lot about yourself from the lyrics," she says. And the Beatles help her remember her Dad, too.

Finding Freedom In Forgiveness

March 5, 2009 • Jennifer Thompson-Cannino was certain that Ronald Cotton was the man who raped her in 1984. But she was wrong. After Cotton spent 11 years in jail, DNA evidence proved his innocence. Now, the two have a friendship based on their belief in forgiveness.

Work Is A Blessing

March 1, 2009 • When he was 12, Russel Honore got his first job helping a neighbor milk 65 dairy cows twice a day. Fifty years later, the retired Army lieutenant general believes hard work helps build character, strengthen communities and promote freedom.

Seeing Beyond Our Differences

February 26, 2009 • Scientist Sheri White says that despite differences in size, shape and color, all humans are 99.9 percent biologically identical. White believes we should embrace our similarities and honor the differences that make each of us unique.

Historical Archives

Reflections on race: essays from the archives.

February 23, 2009 • Dan Gediman, executive producer of NPR's This I Believe, explores the archives of the original series hosted by Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s. He says the essays shed light on the realities of segregation at the dawn of the civil rights movement.

Gediman explores the 'This I Believe' archives.

The magic of letters.

February 15, 2009 • Chameli Waiba was raised in a village in Nepal and didn't attend school as a child. When she finally learned to read as an adult, Waiba discovered the power words could have to change her life, as well as the lives of others in her rural community.

How To Survive Life's Tests

February 9, 2009 • Kendra Jones assigned her students to write This I Believe essays and decided that she owed it to them to write one of her own. Jones believes toughness, steeliness and even meanness have helped her throughout her life.

Our Awareness Controls Human Destiny

February 8, 2009 • In an essay from 1951 for the original This I Believe series, Margaret Mead says she can't separate the beliefs she has as a person from the beliefs she has as an anthropologist. She says that humans have a responsibility for the entire planet.

A Hope For Bettering Humanity

February 1, 2009 • In an essay from 1953 for the original This I Believe series, Sir Charles Galton Darwin, the grandson of naturalist Charles Darwin, drew on his study of science to say he believed the future of humanity depended on the practice of eugenics.

Listening Is Powerful Medicine

February 1, 2009 • It took a scolding from an elderly patient to get Dr. Alicia Conill to look up from her charts and stop to listen. Conill came to understand the value of listening in the treatment process — especially when she herself became the patient.

America's Beauty Is In Its Diversity

January 29, 2009 • In sixth grade, Alaa El-Saad decided to start wearing the hijab , a religious head covering for Muslim women. Despite some trepidation, she found her classmates supported her choice. Now El-Saad believes being different is part of being American.

Thirty Things I Believe

January 18, 2009 • When Tarak McLain's kindergarten group celebrated their 100th day of class, some kids brought 100 nuts or cotton balls. Tarak brought a list of 100 things he believes. Now a first-grader, Tarak shares his top beliefs about God, life, nature and war.

Inviting The World To Dinner

January 12, 2009 • Every Sunday for 30 years, Jim Haynes has welcomed complete strangers into his Paris home for dinner. By introducing people to each other and encouraging them to make personal connections, Haynes believes he can foster greater tolerance in the world.

Pathways Of Desire

January 4, 2009 • Gina Parosa believes in letting her kids, pets and livestock make their own paths in life. But she also realizes that as a farmer and parent, she sometimes has to step in and set good boundaries — while still being flexible enough to change them.

This Is Home

January 1, 2009 • Majora Carter believes you don't have to move out of your old neighborhood to live in a better one. Carter was raised in the South Bronx and spent years trying to leave. But when the city proposed a waste facility there, she was inspired to fight for her community.

Health Is A Human Right

December 21, 2008 • As an infectious disease specialist, Dr. Paul Farmer has traveled the planet to organize and provide medical treatment for people living in poverty. He believes good health care is vital but just the first step in creating a world free of all human suffering.

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15 Prompts for Talking and Writing About Friendship

Questions to help students reflect on the meaning of friendship in their lives

By Natalie Proulx

Who are your closest friends? How much do you share with them? Do you actually like your friends? What have you learned from them?

Below, we’ve rounded up 15 questions we’ve asked students over the years all about friendship. You can use them as prompts for writing or discussion, inside the classroom or out. We hope they’ll inspire you to reflect on your friendships, consider how you can strengthen the ones you have, and motivate you to reach out and make new ones.

Each prompt includes an excerpt from a related New York Times article, essay or photo; a link to the related piece; and several questions to help you think deeply about it. Many of these questions are still open for comment from students 13 or older.

You can find even more ideas for teaching and learning about friendship in our related lesson plan: How Students Can Cultivate Meaningful Friendships Using The New York Times .

1. Who Are Your Friends?

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Power Lesson: “This I Believe” Essays

“Doing homework”  by Predi is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

In this power lesson shared by high school English teacher Cynthia Ruiz , students write their own personal statements of belief. The essay pushes students to write about something that matters to them and helps them get to know each other on a deeper level.

I used to assign a “Letter to the Teacher” at the beginning of every year  to get a snapshot of how a student writes while simultaneously learning background information. Being completely honest, this assignment is also an easy way to get the first few back-to-school days started when a 90-minute class period feels like 900 minutes, because everyone is typically on their best behavior and not talking much. Although I enjoy reading the letters, the assignment doesn’t lend itself to revising and is written only for a specific, one-person audience.

I know building relationships with students is important and a way to get to know them is through their writing, so I did some research to see what other teachers were trying. I came across the “This I Believe” site  and immediately liked the concept better than an introduction letter for a teacher.

Assignment Guidelines

The first time I assigned a “This I Believe” essay was in the fall of 2014, during the second week of school. I planned it as a year-long endeavor, something we could work on as a distraction from other essays required to prepare for state testing. This past year, I did not assign it until late April; it would be our last major writing task. I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to write but held them to a firm deadline of having four weeks to work.

This time, I crafted my writing guidelines according to  those posted on the NPR site that hosts hundreds of This I Believe essays from around the world. My rubric still has some typical writing conventions, but overall I think it focuses more on student voice than structure. I made it clear that students had a lot of choice regarding both content and format. The biggest restriction came directly from the This I Believe site: a 500-600 word limit. I know a lot of writing teachers are divided when it comes to word count, but I figured it was still better than giving a specific number of required paragraphs and sentences.

One other requirement was that students use at least three “vocabulary devices.” This may seem like a restriction, but it actually supported student voice. Over the spring semester, we spent a lot of time reviewing both rhetorical and literary devices (anaphora, hypothetical questions, simile) and I told students to focus on the devices they genuinely felt comfortable using.

Helping Students Choose a Topic

Because the rubric leaves room for a lot of choice, I encouraged students to visit the featured essays site and not only read, but listen to real examples. I wanted them to see that this wasn’t just another run-of-the-mill assignment, that what they believe is important and writing is just one way to share those beliefs. I also made it a point to tell them our end goal was to share this essay with their entire class by way of a gallery walk.

After giving students time to explore the site, I had them “rush write” in their notebooks to see what immediate ideas they captured to help start the brainstorming process. Here’s the prompt I used:

This I Believe For 2 minutes: List words or ideas that you think about when you think of YOUR LIFE. (Can be feelings, symbols, names, events, etc.)

After students generated this list, I asked them to consider what they wanted to write about and share with others. I wanted them to imagine a larger audience and think outside of meeting my expectations.

For some, deciding what to write about was easy and they began drafting immediately. However, the majority of students struggled not so much with what they believe, but how to write about it. Even though they appreciated having so much choice, they still needed some direction to get started.

We continued the listing strategy by focusing on “most memorables”: most memorable events in life so far, most memorable stuffed animal, most memorable friends, family experiences, life lessons learned, and so on. I asked them to focus on why they remember what they remember, and whether or not it impacts any of their beliefs. One student remembered a saying his grandmother always told him that still provides comfort as he’s gotten older. Another focused on her family not having a big house when they first moved to America and how she’s learned to be satisfied with opportunities instead of possessions. While this strategy helped a lot of light bulbs go off, it didn’t work for everyone.

Another strategy I tried was using involved sentence stems: I know I am the way I am today because______. I know I think about things the way I do because _______. I think most people would describe me as ______. I emphasized that these phrases did not have to be included in their final products, but should help generate ideas. I talked with a few frustrated students about this strategy and they told me it made them realize they’ve never really had to think about themselves in this way, but ultimately, it gave them direction for their essays.

Drafting and Revising

Because of block scheduling, I gave students about a week and a half to complete a working draft, which required having at least two paragraphs of their essay done. I only gave a portion of two to three class periods to actually write in class; students were expected to write on their own time.

On the day drafts were due, I set aside class time for revision. I asked students to refer to the rubric and focus on voice and vocabulary strategies. Questions I told them to consider were: Does this sound like me? Do I talk like this to my friends or family? I gave students the option of reviewing their own essays or partnering up with someone to peer edit. Again, this was the end of the year, so we had already established a pretty firm community of trust in class. I don’t know if peer editing would have been as easy had I done the assignment early in the year.

Overall, draft day didn’t feel like the usual “revising and editing” days we’ve had with other essays. Students were very concerned with whether or not they were making sense, if they should add more, or if they were being too repetitive, rather than only being concerned about capitalization, spelling, and grammatical errors.

Sharing the Finished Essays

The culmination of this assignment was when the essays were shared in a gallery walk . The gallery walk is my answer to having students write for a larger audience, and it really helps this essay become about what students have to say instead of just another grade. I can’t count how many times I have returned tediously graded essays only to have a kid immediately walk over to the recycling bin and trash it! Sure he read the comments and suggestions I made, or saw the cute smiley face I left by an excellent word choice, but it didn’t mean much to him because the paper is graded and finished, and he is now done thinking about it. With a gallery walk, not only are students thinking about what they wrote, but they have the opportunity to think about what their classmates wrote as well.

I printed each essay without any names, and made sure any identifying statements were revised. However, there were quite a few students who said they were proud of what they wrote and had no problem if others knew which essay belonged to them. Because not every student turned in a final copy, I printed additional copies of some completed essays to ensure every student had something to read during our gallery walk, instead of drawing attention to the two or three students who did not finish the assignment.

I placed the essays on different tables throughout the room and allowed students to move around as needed; some chose to stand and read an essay, others opted to sit, while others sprawled out on the floor to read. I played soft music and asked that the room volume stay quiet enough to be able to hear the music at all times. I didn’t mind if students were sharing and discussing, and I really wish I recorded the various conversations and comments I overheard that day: “Wow! Did you read this one yet?” “Man. Who wrote this? I might cry. Good tears, though.” “This one is life, Ms. Ruiz.”

I provided a pad of post-its near each essay and told students to leave POSITIVE feedback for each other. I provided sentence stems to help:

Something I liked…

Something I can relate to/agree with…

Something that surprised me…

Something I want to know more about…

I really think…

I periodically checked to make sure no one was being inappropriately critical or just leaving cute hearts or check marks. I wanted students to think about what they were reading, and understand that feedback is a crucial part of the writing process

After about 40 minutes, each essay had received multiple written comments, looking similar to the picture below:

Overall, the feedback was uplifting and actually created a sense of belonging in each class. Students told me they learned so much about each other that day and were shocked by their classmates’ writing. A few said they wished they had written this essay sooner.

Sample Student Work

I was floored by some of the essays I received. Some made me laugh, some made me gasp, some made me cry. Compared to the typical papers I usually assign, this essay allowed my students to not just think about what they were writing but to care about their writing and to be intentional in the language they were using, both in word choice and rhetorical strategies, because it was about what they believe. It is some of the strongest student writing I have ever received as an English teacher.

Here are some sample paragraphs from students who gave me permission to share their work:

From a student who told me he hates school and hates writing.

From a student who by all outward appearances, comes from a traditional family.

From a student battling depression and anxiety.

From a student who missed almost a whole semester but is trying to stay in school.

Although this essay helped end the year with a strong sense of community, I think teachers could easily have students write it at the beginning of the school year or even in January at the start of a new year. I’d love to hear how other teachers have used an essay like this in their classes. ♦

Have you taught a lesson or designed a learning experience we should feature in Power Lessons? Send a full description of your lesson through our contact  form and we’ll check it out!

This I Believe Essay

This i believe essay generator.

In the realm of personal expression and introspection, the “This I Believe” essay stands as a testament to the power of individual beliefs and narratives. Rooted in the context of personal experiences and convictions, these essays provide a platform for individuals to articulate their core principles, values, and perspectives. Through the use of various literary devices and elements , authors craft narratives that illuminate their unique outlook on life. In this article, we will delve into the definition of a This I Believe essay, present a step-by-step guide on how to craft one, address common questions, and explore the essence of this expressive form.

1. High School This I Believe Essay Example

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2. Sample This I Believe Essay Example

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3. Student This I Believe Essay Example

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4. Middle School This I Believe Essay Example

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5. This I Believe Essay Topic Example

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6. This I Believe Essay Life Example

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7. This I Believe Essay Overview Example

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8. This I Believe Essay Steps Example

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9. This I Believe Essay Friendship Example

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10. Sports This I Believe Essay Example

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11. This I Believe Essay Rubric Example

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12. This I Believe Personal Essay Example

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13. This I Believe Essay Writing Example

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14. This I Believe Essay Statement Example

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15. God This I Believe Essay Example

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16. This I Believe Essay Brief Example

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17. This I Believe Essay Thesis Statement Example

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19. this i believe essay college example.

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22. Faith This I Believe Essay Example

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23. Reflection This I Believe Essay Example

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27. This I Believe Power Essay Example

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29. This I Believe Essay Peer Review Example

30. Elements of This I Believe Essay Example

31. This I Believe Essay Transcript Example

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What is a This I Believe Essay?

A This I Believe essay is a written composition that encapsulates an individual’s personal beliefs, values, and philosophies. Often reflective and intimate in nature, these essays offer readers insight into the author’s subjective understanding of the world. They provide an opportunity to explore the depth of one’s convictions, making use of various literary devices and characteristics to convey a sense of authenticity and sincerity. Through the exploration of individual experiences and convictions, these essays aim to connect with readers on a personal and emotional level.

How to Write a This I Believe Essay

Step 1: choose your core belief.

At the heart of your essay lies your core belief. Choose a belief that holds personal significance and represents your worldview. This belief should be something you feel passionately about and can articulate convincingly.

Step 2: Develop a Compelling Context

Create a context for your belief by providing background information. Explain why this belief is important to you and how it has shaped your experiences and outlook on life. A relatable context will engage your readers and make your essay more relatable.

Step 3: Employ Effective Literary Devices

Incorporate literary devices to enhance the impact of your essay. Metaphors, similes, and anecdotes can help convey your belief in a vivid and relatable manner. Consider how these devices can strengthen your narrative and connect with your audience emotionally.

Step 4: Craft a Strong Conclusion

Summarize your belief and its significance in your life, reinforcing the message you want to leave with your readers. Reflect on the journey you’ve taken them on and inspire them to reflect on their own beliefs.

Can I write about a commonly held belief?

Absolutely. While it’s important to maintain authenticity, even exploring a cliché belief can be powerful when you provide a fresh perspective or personal context. Your unique experiences and reflections make your essay stand out.

Can I use proper nouns in my essay?

Yes, proper nouns can add specificity and authenticity to your essay. Mentioning specific places, people, or events can help ground your beliefs in real-world experiences.

How can I make my essay more impactful?

Focus on using strong verbs to convey emotions and actions. Instead of saying “I felt sad,” consider saying “I crumbled under the weight of sorrow.” This adds depth to your writing and engages the reader’s senses.

In the realm of personal expression, the This I Believe essay shines as a vehicle for exploring one’s deepest convictions. By carefully selecting beliefs, weaving context, employing literary devices, and crafting strong conclusions, authors can create narratives that resonate with readers on a profound level. Through the power of words, these essays bridge the gap between individual experiences and universal truths, reminding us of the strength and diversity of human beliefs. So, take the plunge into introspection and share your beliefs with the world through the art of the This I Believe essay.

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Write a This I Believe Essay about the power of kindness in everyday life

Discuss in a This I Believe Essay how overcoming challenges has shaped your character

Essays About Friendships: Top 6 Examples and 8 Prompts

Friendships are one of life’s greatest gifts. To write a friendship essay, make this guide your best friend with its essays about friendships plus prompts.

Every lasting relationship starts with a profound friendship. The foundations that keep meaningful friendships intact are mutual respect, love, laughter, and great conversations. Our most important friendships can support us in our most trying times. They can also influence our life for the better or, the worse, depending on the kind of friends we choose to keep. 

As such, at an early age, we are encouraged to choose friends who can promote a healthy, happy and productive life. However, preserving our treasured friendships is a lifelong process that requires investments in time and effort.

6 Informative Essay Examples

1. the limits of friendships by maria konnikova, 2. friendship by ralph waldo emerson, 3. don’t confuse friendships and business relationships by jerry acuff, 4. a 40-year friendship forged by the challenges of busing by thomas maffai, 5. how people with autism forge friendships by lydia denworth, 6.  friendships are facing new challenges thanks to the crazy cost of living by habiba katsha , 1. the importance of friendship in early childhood development, 2. what makes a healthy friendship, 3. friendships that turn into romance, 4. long-distance friendship with social media, 5. dealing with a toxic friendship, 6. friendship in the workplace, 7. greatest friendships in literature, 8. friendships according to aristotle .

…”[W]ithout investing the face-to-face time, we lack deeper connections to them, and the time we invest in superficial relationships comes at the expense of more profound ones.”

Social media is challenging the Dunbar number, proving that our number of casual friends runs to an average of 150. But as we expand our social base through social media, experts raise concerns about its effect on our social skills, which effectively develop through physical interaction.

“Friendship requires that rare mean betwixt likeness and unlikeness, that piques each with the presence of power and of consent in the other party.”

The influential American essayist Emerson unravels the mysteries behind the divine affinity that binds a friendship while laying down the rules and requirements needed to preserve the fellowship. To Emerson, friendship should allow a certain balance between agreement and disagreement. You might also be interested in these articles about best friends .

“Being friendly in business is necessary but friendships in business aren’t. That’s an important concept. We can have a valuable business relationship without friendship. Unfortunately, many mistakenly believe that the first step to building a business relationship is to develop a friendship.”

This essay differentiates friends from business partners. Using an anecdote, the essay warns against investing too much emotion and time in building friendships with business partners or customers, as such an approach may be futile in increasing sales.

“As racial tensions mounted around them, Drummer and Linehan developed a close connection—one that bridged their own racial differences and has endured more than four decades of evolving racial dynamics within Boston’s schools. Their friendship als­o served as a public symbol of racial solidarity at a time when their students desperately needed one.”

At a time when racial discrimination is at its highest, the author highlights a friendship they built and strengthened at the height of tensions during racial desegregation. This friendship proves that powerful interracial friendships can still be forged and separate from the politics of race.

“…15-year-old Massina Commesso worries a lot about friendship and feeling included. For much of her childhood, Massina had a neurotypical best friend… But as they entered high school, the other friend pulled away, apparently out of embarrassment over some of Massina’s behavior.”

Research debunks the myth that people with autism naturally detest interaction — evidence suggests the opposite. Now, research is shedding more light on the unique social skills of people with autism, enabling society to find ways to help them find true friendships. 

“The cost of living crisis is affecting nearly everyone, with petrol, food and electricity prices all rising. So understandably, it’s having an impact on our friendships too.”

People are now more reluctant to dine out with friends due to the rapidly rising living costs. Friendships are being tested as friends need to adjust to these new financial realities and be more creative in cultivating friendships through lower-cost get-togethers.

8 Topic Prompts on Essays About Friendships

More than giving a sense of belonging, friendships help children learn to share and resolve conflicts. First, find existing research linking the capability to make and keep friends to one’s social, intellectual, and emotional development. 

Then, write down what schools and households can do to reinforce children’s people skills. Here, you can also tackle how they can help children with learning, communication, or behavioral difficulties build friendships, given how their conditions interfere with their capabilities and interactions. 

As with plants, healthy friendships thrive on fertile soil. In this essay, list the qualities that make “fertile soil” and explain how these can grow the seeds of healthy friendships. Some examples include mutual respect and the setting of boundaries. 

Then, write down how you should water and tend to your dearest friendships to ensure that it thrives in your garden of life. You can also discuss your healthy friendships and detail how these have unlocked the best version of yourself. 

Marrying your best friend is a romance story that makes everyone fall in love. However, opening up about your feelings for your best friend is risky. For this prompt, collate stories of people who boldly made the first step in taking their friendship to a new level.

Hold interviews to gather data and ask them the biggest lesson they learned and what they can share to help others struggling with their emotions for their best friend. Also, don’t forget to cite relevant data, such as this study that shows several romantic relationships started as friendships. 

It’s challenging to sustain a long-distance friendship. But many believe that social media has narrowed that distance through an online connection. In your essay, explain the benefits social media has offered in reinforcing long-distance friendships. 

Determine if these virtual connections suffice to keep the depth of friendships. Make sure to use studies to support your argument. You can also cite studies with contrasting findings to give readers a holistic view of the situation.

It could be heartbreaking to feel that your friend is gradually becoming a foe. In this essay, help your readers through this complicated situation with their frenemies by pointing out red flags that signal the need to sever ties with a friend. Help them assess when they should try saving the friendship and when they should walk away. Add a trivial touch to your essay by briefly explaining the origins of the term “frenemies” and what events reinforced its use. 

We all know that there is inevitable competition in the workplace. Added to this are the tensions between managers and employees. So can genuine friendships thrive in a workplace? To answer this, turn to the wealth of experience and insights of long-time managers and human resource experts. 

First, describe the benefits of fostering friendships in the workplace, such as a deeper connection in working toward shared goals, as well as the impediments, such as inherent competition among colleagues. Then, dig for case studies that prove or disprove the relevance and possibility of having real friends at work.

Whether it be the destructive duo like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, or the hardworking pair of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, focus on a literary friendship that you believe is the ultimate model of friendship goals. 

Narrate how the characters met and the progression of their interactions toward becoming a friendship. Then, describe the nature of the friendship and what factors keep it together. 

In Book VIII of his Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes about three kinds of friendships: pleasure, utility, and virtue. Dive deeper into the Greek philosopher’s mind and attempt to differentiate his three types of friendships. 

Point out ideas he articulated most accurately about friendship and parts you disagree with. For one, Aristotle refutes the concept that friendships are necessarily built on likeness alone, hence his classification of friendships. Do you share his sentiments? 

Read our Grammarly review before you submit your essay to make sure it is error-free! Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

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101 This I Believe Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

"This I Believe" essays are a popular genre in the academic and personal writing world. They allow individuals to reflect on their beliefs, values, and experiences in a concise and engaging manner. If you're looking for some inspiration for your own "This I Believe" essay, here are 101 topic ideas and examples to get you started:

• I believe in the power of kindness.
• I believe in the importance of self-love.
• I believe in the value of hard work.
• I believe in the beauty of diversity.
• I believe in the strength of resilience.
• I believe in the magic of music.
• I believe in the healing power of nature.
• I believe in the importance of education.
• I believe in the power of forgiveness.
• I believe in the importance of empathy.
• I believe in the value of honesty.
• I believe in the power of hope.
• I believe in the importance of family.
• I believe in the beauty of art.
• I believe in the strength of community.
• I believe in the power of perseverance.
• I believe in the importance of gratitude.
• I believe in the value of friendship.
• I believe in the beauty of simplicity.
• I believe in the importance of mindfulness.
• I believe in the power of positivity.
• I believe in the importance of communication.
• I believe in the value of laughter.
• I believe in the beauty of love.
• I believe in the strength of faith.
• I believe in the power of creativity.
• I believe in the importance of integrity.
• I believe in the value of curiosity.
• I believe in the beauty of vulnerability.
• I believe in the strength of courage.
• I believe in the importance of authenticity.
• I believe in the value of compassion.
• I believe in the beauty of acceptance.
• I believe in the strength of self-expression.
• I believe in the power of self-reflection.
• I believe in the importance of self-care.
• I believe in the value of independence.
• I believe in the beauty of solitude.
• I believe in the strength of teamwork.
• I believe in the power of imagination.
• I believe in the importance of discipline.
• I believe in the value of responsibility.
• I believe in the beauty of freedom.
• I believe in the power of change.
• I believe in the importance of adaptability.
• I believe in the value of balance.
• I believe in the beauty of imperfection.
• I believe in the strength of vulnerability.
• I believe in the power of self-awareness.
• I believe in the importance of self-compassion.
• I believe in the value of self-acceptance.
• I believe in the beauty of growth.
• I believe in the strength of transformation.
• I believe in the importance of resilience.
• I believe in the value of perseverance.
• I believe in the beauty of forgiveness.
• I believe in the strength of love.
• I believe in the power of gratitude.
• I believe in the value of kindness.
• I believe in the strength of unity.
• I believe in the importance of trust.
• I believe in the beauty of authenticity.
• I believe in the strength of integrity.
• I believe in the power of communication.
• I believe in the importance of collaboration.
• I believe in the value of teamwork.
• I believe in the beauty of creativity.
• I believe in the strength of innovation.
• I believe in the power of education.
• I believe in the importance of lifelong learning.
• I believe in the value of critical thinking.
• I believe in the beauty of curiosity.
• I believe in the power of adaptability.
• I believe in the importance of flexibility.
• I believe in the value of patience.
• I believe in the beauty of perseverance.
• I believe in the strength of determination.
• I believe in the power of self-discipline.
• I believe in the importance of self-control.
• I believe in the value of self-improvement.
• I believe in the beauty of self-care.
• I believe in the strength of self-love.
• I believe in the power of self-acceptance.
• I believe in the importance of self-awareness.
• I believe in the value of self-reflection.
• I believe in the beauty of self-discovery.
• I believe in the power of self-confidence.
• I believe in the importance of self-respect.
• I believe in the value of self-esteem.
• I believe in the beauty of self-compassion.
• I believe in the strength of self-empowerment.
• I believe in the power of self-actualization.

These are just a few examples of the many topics that you could explore in your own "This I Believe" essay. Remember, the key to a successful essay is to choose a topic that is meaningful to you and to communicate your beliefs with honesty and clarity. Good luck!

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This I Believe: I Believe in Friendship Bracelets

When I was about 8, I went to a camp called PAVE. It was a theatre camp, and at the end of every session, we would put on a play for all the parents. This particular session, there was a friendship bracelet fad. Our art teacher tried to teach us how to make them, but for some reason, I never “got it.” The process of tying a bunch of strings together and ending up with a bracelet was too confusing. At the end of the session, the other kids in my group had arms covered in bracelets that they exchanged with each other. I pretended not to mind that all my friends had a physical symbol of their friendship while I didn’t.

Eventually, that fad ended. Before I knew it, I was 16, and about to enter my junior year of high school. I hadn’t thought about friendship bracelets for years, until my family was coming home from vacation. I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw a video of someone making a bracelet. I initially thought nothing of it, and scrolled past. However, a few hours later, I found myself searching “how to tie friendship bracelet knots,” and “how to read friendship bracelet patterns.” By that evening, I had watched at least five tutorial videos.

I don’t know what initially compelled me to learn to make friendship bracelets. I wish I could give that particular day sentimental value, but I think I was fueled through pure teenage boredom.

The thing that kept me making these bracelets at first was the show I was in. I was in “Matilda,” and I was the oldest person playing a kid. The younger kids in the show looked up to me, and I wanted to make them all something to remember me by.

I really thought that would be the end of an era, and by the beginning of the school year, I would be out of my bracelet phase, but I was wrong. Every show I was in, every new friend I made, even every time I was bored, I would make a bracelet. When I was a camp counselor at PAVE, I sat down with every kid that was interested and taught them how to make bracelets too. Now my arms are covered in bracelets, and even more line my bathroom counter.

As a kid, I wanted so badly to be like everyone else, and I felt like I stuck out – but not in a good way. Now, I embrace all those personality traits that younger me was ashamed of. I’m bold, I’m loud, I’m outgoing – and now, I try to pass along this acceptance to the younger kids who look up to me. I like that my love for bracelets makes me stand out, and I hope that by being myself, I influence the kids who look up to me to be proud of who they are.

This I Believe Illinois is NPR Illinois' annual essay program for Illinois high school seniors. An expression of where their minds are as they prepare to enter the adult world. This I Believe was started by radio journalist Edward R. Murrow in 1951 to allow anyone able to distil the guiding principles by which they lived. Special thank you to our sponsors: The Rotary Club of Springfield Sunrise, BLH Computers, Illinois Times, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and Mary Beth & Harvey M. Stephens.

Friday essay: on the ending of a friendship

Emeritus Professor of Creative writing, The University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement

Kevin John Brophy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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Friendship is an incomparable, immeasurable boon to me, and a source of life — not metaphorically but literally.

• Simone Weil

About eight years ago, I went to dinner with a dear friend I had known for more than 40 years. It would be the last time we would see each other and by the end of that evening I was deeply shaken. But more lasting and more unsettling than this has been the feeling of loss without his friendship. It was a sudden ending but it was also an ending that lasted for me well beyond that evening. I have worried since then at what kind of friend I am to my friends, and why a friendship can suddenly self-destruct while others can so unexpectedly bloom.

My friend and I were used to going to dinner together, though it had become an increasingly tricky matter for us. We had been seeing each other more infrequently, and our conversations had been tending towards repetition. I still enjoyed his passion for talk, his willingness to be puzzled by life’s events, our comically growing list of minor ailments as we entered our sixties, and the old stories he fell back on — usually stories of his minor triumphs, such as the time his car burst into fire, was declared a write-off by insurance, and ended in an auction house where he bought it back with part of the insurance payout and only minor repairs to be made. There were stories of his time as a barman in one of Melbourne’s roughest pubs. I suppose in a lot of long-lasting friendships it is these repeated stories of the past that can fill the present so richly.

Nevertheless, both his opinions and mine seemed to have become too predictable. Even his desire to come up with the most unpredictable viewpoint on any problem was a routine I expected from him. Each of us knew the weaknesses in the other’s thinking, and we had learned not to go too far with some topics, which were of course the most interesting and important ones.

He knew how politically correct I could be, and shrewdly enough he had no time for my self-righteousness, the predictability of my views on gender, race and climate. I understood this. He knew too that his fiercely independent thinking was often just the usual rant against greenies or lefties. Something had begun to fail in our friendship, but I could not properly perceive this or speak of it.

We were a contrasting pair. He was a big man with an aggressive edge to his gregarious nature, while I was lean, short and physically slight next to him, a much more reserved person altogether. I liked his size because big men have been protective figures in my life. At times when I felt threatened I would ask him to come with me to a meeting or a transaction, and just stand next to me in his big way. During one long period of trouble with our neighbours he would visit when the tension was high to show his formidable presence and his solidarity with us.

I was always reading and knew how to talk books, while he was too restless to read much. He knew how to sing, bursting into song occasionally when we were together. He had been unable to work professionally since a breakdown that was both physical and mental. By contrast, I was working steadily, never quite as free with my time as he was.

Nearly two years before our last dinner together his wife had suddenly left him. As it turned out, she had been planning her departure for some time, but when she went he was taken by surprise. I saw a more confused and fragile side of him during those months when we would meet and talk through how he was dealing with their counselling sessions, and then how the negotiations were proceeding over belongings and finally the family house. He was learning to live alone for the first time since he had been a young man, and was exploring what it might be like to seek out new relationships.

Read more: Research Check: is it true only half your friends actually like you?

A safe haven

We had met when I was a first-year university student boarding at my grandmother’s home in an inner Melbourne suburb. I was studying for a Bachelor of Arts, staying up through the nights, discovering literature, music, history, cask wine, dope, girls and ideas.

He lived in a flat a few doors away in a street behind my grandmother’s place, and I remember it was the local parish youth group, or the remnants of one, that used to meet in his flat. In my friend’s flat we would lie around the floor, half a dozen of us, drinking, flirting, arguing about religion or politics until the night was strung out in our heads, tight and thin and vibrating with possibilities. I loved that sudden intimate and intellectually rich contact with people my own age.

My friend and I started up a coffee lounge in an old disused shopfront as a meeting place for youth who would otherwise be on the street. I was the one who became immersed in the chaotic life of the place as students, musicians, misfits, hopeful poets and petty criminals floated through the shop, while my friend kept his eye on the broader picture that involved real estate agents, local councils, supplies of coffee, income and expenditure.

Perhaps the experience helped delay my own adulthood, allowing me time to try out a bohemian, communal alternative lifestyle that was so important to some of us in the early 1970s. My friend, though, was soon married. It was as if he had been living a parallel life outside our friendship, outside the youth group, coffee shop, jug band, drugs and misadventures of our project.

This did not break us up, and in fact after his marriage he became another kind of friend. I was at times struggling to find some steady sense of myself. Sometimes in those years I would not be able to talk or even be near others, and I remember once when I felt like this I went to my newly married friend’s home, and asked if I could lie on the floor in the corner of their lounge room for a few days until I felt better.

They indulged me. I felt it was this haven that saved me then, giving me the time to recoup and giving me a sense that there was somewhere I could go where the world was safe and neutral.

In time, and more bumpily and uncertainly than my friend, I was with a partner raising a family. He was often involved in our children’s birthdays, other celebrations, our house-moving, and just dropping in on family meals. It worked for us. I remember him lifting our cast iron wood-burning stove into its place in our first renovated Brunswick cottage. He lived in a more sprawling home near bushland on the edge of Melbourne, so one of my pleasures became the long cycling trips out to see him.

My partner and I were embraced by a local community thanks to the childcare centre, kinders, schools and sport. Lasting friendships (for us and for our children) grew in the tentative, open-ended, slightly blindly feeling way of friendships. Through this decade and a half though, the particular friendship with my songful friend held, perhaps to the surprise of both of us.

‘Tolerating much, for the sake of best intentions’

In his thoroughly likeable 1993 book on friendship , the political scientist Graham Little wrote under the bright light of writings by Aristotle and Freud, that the purest kind of friendship “welcomes the different ways people are alive to life and tolerates much in a friend for the sake of best intentions”.

Here perhaps is the closest I have seen to a definition of friendship at its best: a stance imbued with sympathy, interest and excitement directed at another despite all that otherwise shows we are flawed and dangerous creatures.

On that evening, the evening of the last time we went out to dinner together, I did push my friend towards one of the topics we usually avoided. I had been wanting him to acknowledge and even apologise for his behaviour towards some young women he had spoken to, I thought, lewdly and insultingly nearly a year before in my home at a party. The women and those of us who had witnessed his behaviour felt continuing tension over his refusal to discuss the fact that he had wanted to speak so insultingly to them and then had done it in our home in front of us. For me, there was some element of betrayal, not only in the way he had behaved but in his continued refusal to discuss what had happened.

The women were drunk, he said, just as he had said the last time I tried to talk to him about this. They were wearing almost nothing, he said, and what he’d said to them was no more than they were expecting. My friend and I were sitting in a popular Thai restaurant on Sydney Road: metal chairs, plastic tables, concrete floor. It was noisy, packed with students, young couples and groups out for a cheap and tasty meal. A waitress had put menus, water and beer on our table while she waited for us to decide on our meals. Wanting to push finally past this impasse, I pointed out to him that the women had not insulted him, he had insulted them.

If that’s the way you want it, he replied, and placed his hands on each side of the table, hurling it into the air and walking out of the restaurant as table, bottles, glasses, water and beer came clattering and smashing down around me. The whole restaurant fell silent. I could not move for some time. The waitress began mopping up the floor around me. Someone called out, “Hey, are you all right?”

This was the last time I saw or heard from him. For many months, I thought of him every day, then slowly I thought of him less often, until now I can think of him more or less at will, and not find myself ashamed of the way I went for him in a conversation where I should have been perhaps more alive to whatever was troubling him.

Improvised, tentative

For some years after this, I felt I had to learn how to be myself without him. I have read articles and essays since then about how pitiful men can be at friendship. We are apparently too competitive, we base our friendships on common activities, which means we can avoid talking openly about our feelings and thoughts. I don’t know about this “male deficit model”, as some sociologists call it, but I do know that the loss of this friendship took with it a big part of my shared personal history at that time. It dented my confidence in ever having properly known this man or understood our friendship — or in knowing how secure any friendship might be.

I was drawn to read and re-read Michel de Montaigne’s gentle and strangely extreme essay on friendship where he was so certain that he knew with perfection what his friend would think and say and value. He wrote of his friend, Etienne de Boëtie, “Not only did I know his mind as well as I knew my own but I would have entrusted myself to him with greater assurance than to myself.”

Against this perfection of understanding between friends, there is George Eliot’s odd excursion into science fiction in her 1859 novel, The Lifted Veil . Her narrator, Latimer, finds he can perceive perfectly clearly the thoughts of all the people around him. He becomes disgusted and deeply disturbed by the petty self-interest he apparently discovers within everyone.

After 40 years of shared history, there was not the disgust Eliot writes of, nor Montaigne’s perfect union of mind and trust between me and my burly friend, but there was, I had thought, a foundation of knowledge whereby we took each other’s differences into ourselves, as well as our common histories of the cafe we had run, and as it happened our common serving of time in semi-monastic seminaries before we’d met — differences and similarities that had given us, I thought, ways of being in sympathy with each other while allowing for each other.

Read more: Guide to the classics: Michel de Montaigne's Essays

Montaigne’s dearest friend, Etienne, had died, and his essay was as much about the meaning of this loss as about friendship. His big idea was loyalty, and I think I understand that, though not in the absolute way Montaigne wrote of it.

Loyalty is only real if it is constantly renewed. I worry that I have not worked enough at some friendships that have come into my life, but have let them happen more passively than the women I know who spend such time, and such complicated time, exploring and testing friendships. The sudden disappearance of my friend left me with an awareness of how patched-together, how improvised, clumsy and tentative even the most secure-seeming friendship can be.

When the philosopher and brilliant essayist, Simone Weil wrote shortly before she died in 1943,

I may lose, at any moment, through the play of circumstances over which I have no control, anything whatsoever that I possess, including things that are so intimately mine that I consider them as myself. There is nothing that I might not lose. It could happen at any moment ….

she seemed to be touching on the difficult truth that we run on luck and hope and chance much of the time. Why haven’t I worked harder at friendships, when I know that they provide the real meaning in my life?

Some years ago, when I was told by a medical specialist that I had a 30% chance of having cancer, as I waited for the results of a biopsy, I remember that in response to these dismal odds I had no desire to go back to work, no desire to even read — all I wanted to do was spend time with friends.

Inner worlds laid waste

To know what it is we care about, this is a gift. It should be straightforward to know this and keep it present in our lives, but it can prove to be difficult. Being the reader that I am, I have always turned to literature and fiction for answers or insights into those questions that seem to need answering.

I realised some time after the ending of my friendship that I had been reading novels dealing with friendship, and was not even sure how consciously I had chosen them.

For instance, I read The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber, a novel about a Christian preacher, Peter Leigh, sent to convert aliens in a galaxy ludicrously far from earth on a planet with an equally unlikely atmosphere benign to its human colonisers.

It is a novel about whether Leigh can be any kind of adequate friend to his wife left behind on Earth, and whether his new feelings for these aliens amounts to friendship. Though my suspension of disbelief was precarious, I found myself caring about these characters and their relationships, even the grotesquely shapeless aliens. Partly I cared about them because the book read like an essay testing ideas of friendship and loyalty that were important and urgent to the writer.

I also read at that time Haruki Murakami’s novel, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage , a book that came with a little game of coloured cards and stickers, and I found that I cared about Tsukuru Tazaki too, for I felt all along that Murakami’s character was a thin and endearing disguise for himself (what a beautiful word that is, “en-dearing”).

The novel centred on lost friendships. I heard a tone in its voice that was the oddly flat, persistent, vulnerable and sincere searching of a man for connection with others. If Murakami’s novel has a proposition it wishes to test it would be that we only know ourselves in what images of ourselves we receive back from our friends. Without our friends we become invisible, lost.

In both those novels, the friendships are crashing to pieces in slow motion in front of the reader’s helpless eyes. I wanted to shake those characters, tell them to stop and think about what they were doing, but at the same time I saw in them mirrors of myself and my experiences.

I read John Berger too , on the way a human looks across an abyss of incomprehension when looking at another animal. Though language seems to connect us, it might be that language also distracts us from the actual abyss of ignorance and fear between all of us as we look, across, at each other. In his book on the savage mind , Lévi-Strauss quotes a study of Canadian Carrier Indians living on the Bulkley River who were able to cross that abyss between species, believing they knew what animals did and what their needs were because their men had been married to the salmon, the beaver and the bear.

I have read essays by Robin Dunbar on the evolutionary limits to our circles of intimacy , where he suggests that for most of us there needs to be three or maybe five truly close friends. These are the ones we lean towards with tenderness and open ourselves to with endless curiosity — those in whom we seek only the good.

My partner can name quickly four friends who qualify for her as part of this necessary circle. I find I can name two (and she is one of them), then a constellation of individual friends whose closeness to me I can’t easily measure. It is this constellation that sustains me.

Recently I was away from home for three months. After two weeks away I wrote a list in the back of my diary of the friends I was missing. A little more than a dozen of these were the friends, men and women, with whom I need contact, and with whom conversations are always open-ended, surprising, intellectually stimulating, sometimes intimate, and often fun. With each of them I explore a slightly different but always essential version of myself. Graham Little wrote that “ideal soulmates are friends who are fully aware that each has himself as his main life project”.

To live this takes some effort of imagination, and with my friend at dinner that night I might in myself have been refusing to make this effort.

There are also, it occurs to me, the friends who came as couples, with whom my partner and I share time as couples. This is itself another manifestation of friendship, one that crosses over into community, tribe and family — and no less precious than the individual intimacy of a personal friendship. For reasons I can’t properly fathom, the importance of this kind of time with coupled friends has deepened as I have grown through the decades of my fifties and sixties.

Perhaps it is that the dance of conversation and ideas is so much more complex and pleasurable when there are four or more contributing. It could be too that I am absolved from the responsibility of really working at these friendships in the way one must when there are two of us. Or it might be the pang and stimulus of the knowledge that opportunities to be together are brutally diminishing as we grow older.

But to lose an individual friend from one’s closest circle is to have large tracts of one’s inner world laid waste for a time. My feelings over the end of this particular friendship were a kind of grief mixed with bewilderment.

It was not that the friendship was necessary to my existence, but that perhaps through habit and sympathy it had become a fixed part of my identity. Robin Dunbar would say that by stepping away from this friendship I had made room for someone else to slip in to my circle of most intimate friends, but isn’t it the point of such close friends that they are in some important sense irreplaceable? This is the source of much of our distress when such friendships end.

Still learning

When I told people about what had happened in the restaurant that night, they would say, reasonably, “Why don’t you patch things up and resume your friendship?”

As I imagined how a conversation might go if I did meet my friend again, I came to understand that I had been a provocation to him. I had ceased to be the friend he needed, wanted or imagined.

What he did was dramatic. He might have called it merely dramatic. I felt it as threatening. Though I cannot help but think I provoked him. And if we had “patched” a friendship back together, on whose terms would this have been conducted? Would it always be that I would have to agree not to press him on questions that might lead him to throw over some table between us again?

Or worse, would I have to witness his apology, forgive him myself, and put him on his best behaviour for the rest of our friendship?

Neither of those outcomes would have patched much together. I had been hurting too over what I saw as his lack of willingness or interest to understand the situation from my point of view. And so it went inside me as the table and the water and the beer and the glasses came crashing down around me. I had been, in a way, married to my friend, even if he was a salmon or a bear — a creature across an abyss from me. Perhaps this was the only way out of that marriage. Perhaps he had been preparing for (moving towards?) this moment more consciously than I had been.

The ending of this friendship, it is clear, left me looking for its story. It was as if all along there must have been a narrative with a trajectory carrying us in this direction. A story is of course a way of testing whether an experience can take on a shape. Murakami’s and Faber’s novels are not themselves full-blown stories, for there is almost no plot, no shape, to their stumbling episodic structures, and oddly enough in both books the self-doubting lovers might or might not find that close communion with another somewhere well beyond the last page of each novel.

These novels cohere round a series of questions rather than events: what do we know and what can we know about others, what is the nature of the distance that separates one person from another, how provisional is it to know someone anyway, and what does it mean to care about someone, even someone who is a character in a novel?

When an Indian says he is married to a salmon, this can be no stranger than me saying I spent a couple of weeks on a humid planet in another galaxy with an astronaut who is a Christian preacher and an inept husband, or I spent last night in Tokyo with an engineer who builds railway stations and believes himself to be colourless, though at least two women have told him he is full of colour. But do I go to this story-making as a way of keeping my experiences less personal and more cerebral?

When I got home that night eight years ago, I sat at my kitchen table, shaking, hugging myself, talking to my grown-up children about what happened. It was the talking that helped — a narrative taking shape.

Dunbar, like me, like all of us, worries at the question of what makes life so richly present to us, and why friendships seem to be at the core of this meaningfulness. He has been surveying Americans with questions about friendship for several decades, and he concludes that for many of us the small circle of intimate friendships we experience is reducing.

We are apparently lucky now, on average, if there are two people in our lives we can approach with tenderness and curiosity, with that assumption that time will not matter as we talk in a low, murmuring, hive-warm way to a close friend.

My friend cannot be replaced, and it might be that we did not in the end imagine each other fully enough or accurately enough as we approached that last encounter. I don’t know precisely what our failure was. The shock of what happened and the shock of the friendship ending has over the time since that dinner become a part of my history in which I remember feeling grief but am no longer caught in confused anger or guilt over it. The story of it might not have ended but it has subsided.

Perhaps in all friendships we are not only, at our best, agreeing to encountering the unique and endlessly absorbing presence of another person, but unknown to us we’re learning something about how to approach the next friendship in our lives. There is something comically inept and endearing about the possibility that one might still be learning how to be a friend right up to the end of life.

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The Importance of Friendship

Friendships are a crucial part of living a fulfilling life..

Posted July 26, 2021 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

• Friendship makes life more enjoyable and enriches one's everyday experiences.
• Finding friends can be challenging but can be often achieved by approaching others with mutual interests.
• The first criteria one should look for in a partner is someone who is ultimately a good friend to them.

As we move through life, we find that there are many things out of our control. We can’t choose our parents, our genetics , or control the things that happen in the world around us. One thing that we can control is who our friends are, and this decision can either make our lives so much richer and beautiful, or more stressful and disappointing. Today we’ll focus on how to choose friends who enrich our lives and make them more beautiful.

Why friends are so important

Having solid friendships is important for two main reasons. First, they make life more enjoyable. We get to share the beautiful aspects of life with people who we love, which can enrich our everyday experiences. Second, our friends help us through the difficult times. Having friends to support us through hard times can make unimaginably difficult situations seem more tolerable.

The most beautiful part about pouring our time and energy into friendships is that not only do friends help enrich our lives, but we enrich theirs too! Friendships get us through the tough times in life, make things more fun and enjoyable, and all-around make our lives better. I urge you to take stock of your friendships and ask yourself if your current friends people build you up and support you, or is the friendship more one-sided?

As we explore friendships today, these are also inclusive of our partners. I believe that the foundation for any healthy relationship is friendship. So it’s important to group our romantic partners into this conversation too.

So, where do we find friends? This might sound silly, but finding friends can be challenging! When I first moved to California for my Ph.D., I didn’t have any friends out here. There were quite a few people in my program that I enjoyed spending time with. But, towards the end of school, they became very busy and were no longer able to dedicate time to hang out anymore. Thankfully, through the help of a very good therapist, I learned that it was important to enjoy life instead of striving for excellence all of the time. As a result, I learned how important it was to carve out time in my life for friends.

Unfortunately, the people I had dedicated time to thus far were achievement-oriented and were pouring their time into work and not our friendships. This forced me to seek out other ways to form connections with people. I ended up finding a local hiking group with the hopes of meeting people with similar interests. During one of these hikes, I met Jim, one of my best friends to this day.

We became instant friends. We have continued to support each other over the years, and even more importantly, we always make time for one another. We both view the friendship as one that makes each other’s lives better, therefore it’s always worth the time and energy. The backbone of any successful friendship is one where both sides put in equal effort and support.

Both Jim and I were forced to put in more effort when he moved across the country to the East Coast. Because we already had such a strong foundation, this didn’t impact our friendship. We talk all of the time and see each other several times a year. We make the relationship a priority no matter what coast each other is on. Like anything in life that is valuable to us, we must work at it and put time and effort into it.

When it's time to move on from a friendship

The second part of the friendship discussion can be a difficult one — reassessing your current friendships and potentially moving on from friends who don’t add value to your life.

Two of my best friends from high school went down different paths from me. We still keep in contact, but I don’t spend too much time with them anymore. The supporting, loving part of our relationship wasn’t there anymore, so it was no longer worth putting energy into maintaining a friendship that had changed so much.

This may be a story you can relate to. What I hope you take away from this post is this — friendships take energy, time, and commitment. And if you’re putting your time and energy into someone who isn’t enriching your life and giving you the support you need, it may be time to reevaluate that friendship.

If you find yourself in the market for friends (who isn’t?) I recommend you find groups or activities that you genuinely enjoy. This way you’ll have the opportunity to connect with people who have similar interests. And once you’re there, take a risk! Talk to people, exchange contact information, and follow up with them. It may feel scary at first, but the reward outweighs the momentary uncomfortable feeling you may have.

Friendship and dating

In many ways, the most important friendship in our lives is the one we have with our romantic partners. The first criteria we should look for in this partner is someone who is ultimately a good friend to us, meaning that they are kind, positive, loving, and supportive. If we’re dating someone and they’re a jerk, it’s probably safe to assume that they’re not a good friend. To avoid this, I recommend seeking out someone who is a good friend first, i.e. before the romance and sexual stuff gets in the way.

When there are bumps in a friendship or a romantic relationship , it’s important to work through those tough times. The tricky part is that it will take two people to fix that issue. We can only control our actions and hold ourselves accountable, but we cannot control our friend or our partner's reaction. In addition to our own actions, we have control over the friends or partners that we choose in the first place. If we prioritize choosing good people who we can trust will work through issues with us, then we can work through anything.

Friendships are a crucial part of living a fulfilling life. It’s so important that we surround ourselves with people who we have fun with, who support us, and people who make us better. You may already have beautiful friendships in your life, but if you’re still in the market for friends, it’s never too late to cultivate new relationships that will make your life even more magnificent.

Robert Puff, Ph.D. , is host and producer of the Happiness Podcast, with over 19 million downloads.

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Essay on Friendship

List of essays on friendship, essay on friendship – short essay for kids (essay 1 – 150 words), essay on friendship – 10 lines on friendship written in english (essay 2 – 250 words), essay on friendship – for school students (class 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) (essay 3 – 300 words), essay on friendship – for students (essay 4 – 400 words), essay on friendship (essay 5 – 500 words), essay on friendship – introduction, benefits and qualities (essay 6 – 600 words), essay on friendship – essay on true friendship (essay 7 – 750 words), essay on friendship – importance, types, examples and conclusion (essay 8 – 1000 words).

Friendship is a divine relationship, which is defined by neither blood nor any other similarity. Who is in this world does not have a friend?

A friend, with whom you just love to spend your time, can share your joys and sorrows. Most importantly you need not fake yourself and just be what you are. That is what friendship is all about. It is one of the most beautiful of the relations in the world. Students of today need to understand the values of friendship and therefore we have composed different long essays for students as well as short essays.

Audience: The below given essays are exclusively written for school students (Class 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Standard).

Introduction:

Friendship is considered as one of the treasures that anyone can possess. God has given us the liberty to choose friends because they are for our lifetime. It is quite normal for our parents and siblings to love us because they are our own blood but a friend is someone who is initially a stranger and then takes his/her place above all the other relations. Friendship is nothing but pure love without any expectations.

Role of a Friend:

True friends share and support each other even during the toughest of times. A true friend is one who feels happy for our success, who feel sad for our failures, fight with us for silly things and hugs us the next second, gets angry on us when we do any mistakes. Friendship is all about having true friends who can understand us without the need for us to speak.

Conclusion:

Friendship is very essential for a happy life. Even a two-minute chat with a friend will make us forget our worries. That is the strength of friendship.

Friendship is a divine relationship, which is defined by neither blood nor any other similarity. Friends are those you can choose for yourself in spite of the difference you both have from each other. A good friend in need will do wonders in your life, whenever you are in need of self-realization, upbringing your confidence and more.

Friendship serves you best not only in your happiest moments but also when you feel low in emotions. A life without a good friend is not at all complete and an emptiness will be felt all the time you think of sharing your emotion that can’t be told to anyone else.

Honesty and Patience in Friendship:

To maintain and keep going with a good deep friendship, honesty is the most important factor. You should choose a person who can be cent percent honest with you in all perspective like emotions, decision making, etc. Trustworthy friendship will help you to take better decisions and choose a better path for your future well-being.

Tolerance and patience with each other are another important characteristics of long-lasting friendship. Accepting the differences, friends should be able to be with each other in all situations. As a friend, the person should lead the other to success by being a motivation and criticize the person if they choose the wrong path.

Friendship will give you sweet and happy memories that can be cherished for a lifetime and if you succeed in maintaining that precious relation, then you are the luckiest person in this world. Love and care for each other will cherish the relationship and helps the person to appreciate each thing done without any fail.

Of all the different relations which we indulge in, friendship is considered to be the purest of them all. Friendship is the true confluence of souls with like minded attitude that aids in seamless conversation and the best of times. It is believed that a person who doesn’t have any friend lives one of the toughest lives.

The Desire to Belong:

Each one of us have been so programmed that we need a companion even if it’s not romantic, someone just to tag along. There are several definitions of friendship and it is upon you as to how you believe your relation to be. Friendship can happen when you are simply sharing a bowl of food with a person day after day. It can be expressed in the way you silently care for someone even when they may not be aware of your existence.

The Little Moments that Matter:

It is giving up the little things you love dearly for the sake of someone you cherish a great deal. Friendship often refers to the little moments of senseless laugh you two share when the rest of the world starts to look bleak. It is to know what your friend needs and being there for them even when the rest of the world has turned their back towards them.

Friendship is the kind of relation which sometimes even exceeds the realms of love because it is all about giving without even once bothering to sense what you shall get back. Every time spent is special because when you are with friends, you don’t feel the blues!

The Bottom-Line:

Of course the definition of friendship is going to vary a great deal from one person to another. But, remember one thing, when you are friends with someone, be prepared to put your heart on the line for their happiness because friendship often manifests into love, even if it is not romantic, it always is true!

Friendship is the most valuable as well as precious gifts of life. Friendship is one of the most valued relationship. People who have good friends enjoy the most in their live. True friendship is based on loyalty & support. A good friend is a person who will stand with you when times are tough. A friend is someone special on whom you can rely on to celebrate a special moment. Friendship is like a life asset and it can lead us to success. It all depends on our choice how we choose our friends.

The quality of friendship is essential for happiness. The benefits of healthy friendship remains long-life. In addition, having a strong friend circle also improves our self-confidence. Due to the strong relationship, we get much emotional support during our bad times. True friendship is a feeling of love & care.

Real friendship cannot be built within limited boundaries like caste or creed. It gives us a feeling that someone really needs us & we are not alone. This is true that man cannot live alone. True friends are needed in every stage of life to survive. A true friend can be an old person or a child. But it is generally believed that we make friend with people who are of the same age as ours. Same age group can give you the freedom to share anything.

The selection of a true friend is also a challenging task. We have to carefully make our friend selection. Friends might come & go. They will make you laugh & cry. Wrong selection can create various problems for you. In the modern world, many youngsters become a social nuisance. The reason behind it is wrong & bad friendships.

But if we successfully choose the right person as a friend then our life becomes easier. It doesn’t matter who you are, what type of clothes you wear. The most important thing is trust because the relation of friendship stands on the pillars of trust.

Friendship is a relation which can make or break us in every stage of life. But in other words, friendship is an asset which is really precious. Obviously, it is also not so easy to maintain friendships. It demands your time as well as efforts. Last but not the least, it is hard to find true friendship but once you succeed in this task you will have a wonderful time. In exchange for that a friend will only need your valuable time and trust.

The idea of friendship is either heartwarming or gives cold feet depending on individuals and the types of friendships. In the current world, friendships have had different definitions based on the morality and civilization of the society. Ideally, friendship is defined as the state of mutual trust between individuals or parties. Trust is an important component of friendship because it determines the reliability and longevity of the friendship. Trust is built through honest communications between the individuals and interested parties.

Once trust has been established, mutual understanding and support being to form the resulting in a friendship. This friendship can be broken through lack of trust. Trust can be breached through deceit and/ or some people, it differs with the frequencies. There are people who will break friendships after only one episode of dishonesty whereas some people give second chances and even more chances. Friendship types determine the longevity and the causes of breakups. The importance of friendship in the lives of individuals is the reason why friendships are formed in the first place.

Types of Friendships:

According to Aristotle’s Nichomachean ethics, there are three types of friendships. The friendships are based on three factors i.e. utility, pleasure and goodness. The first type of friendship is based on utility and has been described as a friendship whereby both parties gain from each other.

This type of friendship is dependent on the benefits and that is what keeps the friendship going. This type of friendships do not last long because it dissolves as soon as the benefits are outsourced or when other sources are found outside the friendship. The friendship was invented for trade purposes because when two people with opposite things that depend on each other re put together, trade is maximized.

The second type of friendship is based on pleasure. This is described as friendship in which two individuals are drawn to each other based on desires of pleasure and is characterized by passionate feelings and feelings of belonging. This type of friendship can ether last long or is short-lived depending on the presence of the attraction between the two parties.

The third type of friendship is based on goodness. In this friendship, the goodness of people draw them to each other and they usually have the same virtues. The friendship involves loving each other and expecting goodness. It takes long to develop this kind of friendship but it usually lasts longest and is actually the best kind of friendship to be in. the importance of such a friendship is the social support and love.

In conclusion, friendships are important in the lives of individuals. Trust builds and sustains friendships. The different types of friendships are important because they provide benefits and social support. Friendships provide a feeling of belonging and dependence. The durability of friendships is dependent on the basis of its formation and the intention during the formation. Friendships that last long are not based on materialistic gain, instead, they are based on pure emotion.

Friendship is an emotion of care, mutual trust, and fondness among two persons. A friend might be a work-mate, buddy, fellow student or any individual with whom we feel an attachment.

In friendship, people have a mutual exchange of sentiments and faith too. Usually, the friendship nurtures more amongst those people who belong to a similar age as they possess the same passions, interests, sentiments, and opinions. During the school days, kids who belong to the similar age group have a common dream about their future and this makes them all of them get closer in friendship.

In the same way, employees working in business organizations also make friends as they are working together for attaining the organizational objectives. It does not matter that to which age group you belong, friendship can happen at any time of your life.

Benefits of Friendship:

Sometimes friendship is essential in our life. Below are a few benefits of friendship.

1. It’s impossible to live your life alone always but friendship fills that gap quickly with the friend’s company.

2. You can easily pass the rigidities of life with the friendship as in your distress period your friends are always there to help you.

3. Friendship teaches you how to remain happy in life.

4. In case of any confusion or problem, your friendship will always benefit you with good opinions.

True and Dishonest Friendship:

True friendship is very rare in today’s times. There are so many persons who support only those people who are in power so that they can fulfil their selfish motives below the name of friendship. They stay with friends till the time their selfish requirements are achieved. Dishonest friends leave people as soon as their power gets vanished. You can find these types of self-seeking friends all around the world who are quite hurtful than enemies.

Finding a true friendship is very difficult. A true friend helps the other friend who is in need. It does not matter to him that his friend is right or wrong but he will always support his friend at the time of his difficulty.

Carefulness in the Selection of Friendship:

You must be very careful while choosing friends. You should nurture your friendship with that person who does not leave you in your bad times easily. Once you get emotionally attached to the wrong person you cannot finish your friendship so soon. True friendship continues till the time of your last breaths and does not change with the passing time.

Friendship with a bad person also affects your own thoughts and habits. Therefore, a bad person should not be chosen in any type of circumstances. We must do friendship with full attention and carefulness.

Best Qualities of Good Friendship:

Good friendship provides people an enormous love to each other.

The below are the important qualities of good friendship:

1. Good friendship is always faithful, honest, and truthful.

2. People pay attention and take note of others thoughts in good friendship.

3. Persons quickly forget and let off the mistakes of the other friend. In fact, they accept their friend in the way they are actually.

4. You are not judged on the basis of your success, money or power in it.

5. Friends do not feel shy to provide us with valuable opinions for our welfare.

6. People always share their joyful times with their good friends and also stay ready to help their friends in the time of need.

7. True friends also support others in their professional as well as personal life. They encourage their friends in the area of their interest.

Friendship is established over the sacrifice, love, faith, and concern of mutual benefit. True Friendship is a support and a blessing for everybody. All those males and females who have true and genuine friends are very lucky really.

Friendship can simply be defined as a form of mutual relationship or understanding between two people or more who interact and are attached to one another in a manner that is friendly. A friendship is a serious relationship of devotion between two or more people where people involved have a true and sincere feeling of affection, care and love towards each other devoid of any misunderstanding and without demands.

Primarily friendship happens between people that have the same sentiments, feelings and tastes. It is believed that there is no limit or criteria for friendship. All of the different creed, religion, caste, position, sex and age do not matter when it comes to friendship even though friendships can sometimes be damaged by economic disparity and other forms of differentiation. From all of these, it can be concluded that real and true friendship is very possible between people that have a uniform status and are like-minded.

A lot of friends we have in the world today only remain together in times of prosperity and absence of problems but only the faithful, sincere and true friends remain all through the troubles, times of hardships and our bad times. We only discover who our bad and good friends are in the times where we don’t have things going our way.

Most people want to be friends with people with money and we can’t really know if our friends are true when we have money and do not need their help, we only discover our true friends when we need their help in terms of money or any other form of support. A lot of friendships have been jeopardised because of money and the absence or presence of it.

Sometimes, we might face difficulty or crises in our friendships because of self-respect and ego. Friendships can be affected by us or others and we need to try to strike a balance in our friendships. For our friendship to prosper and be true, we need satisfaction, proper understanding and a trustworthy nature. As true friends, we should never exploit our friends but instead do our utmost best to motivate and support them in doing and attaining the very best things in life.

The true meaning of friendship is sometimes lost because of encounters with fake friends who have used and exploited us for their own personal benefits. People like this tend to end the friendship once they get what they want or stab their supposed friends in the back just to get what they think is best for them. Friendship is a very good thing that can help meet our need for companionship and other emotional needs.

In the world we live in today, it is extremely difficult to come across good and loyal friends and this daunting task isn’t made any easier by the lie and deceit of a lot of people in this generation. So, when one finds a very good and loyal important, it is like finding gold and one should do everything to keep friends like that.

The pursuit of true friendship Is not limited to humans, we can as well find good friends in animals; for example, it is a popular belief that dogs make the best friends. It is very important to have good friends as they help us in times and situations where we are down and facing difficulties. Our true friends always do their best to save us when we are in danger and also provide us with timely and good advice. True friends are priceless assets in our lives, they share our pains and sorrow, help provide relief to us in terrible situations and do their best to make us happy.

Friends can both be the good or the bad types. Good friends help push us on the right path in life while on the other hand, bad friends don’t care about us but only care about themselves and can lead us into the wrong path; because of this, we have to be absolutely careful when choosing our friends in this life.

Bad friends can ruin our lives completely so we have to be weary of them and do our best to avoid bag friends totally. We need friends in our life that will be there for us at every point in time and will share all of our feeling with us, both the good and bad. We need friends we can talk to anytime we are feeling lonely, friends that will make us laugh and smile anytime we are feeling sad.

What is friendship? It is the purest form of relationship between two individual with no hidden agenda. As per the dictionary, it is the mutual affection between people. But, is it just a mutual affection? Not always, as in the case of best friends, it is far beyond that. Great friends share each other’s feelings or notions which bring a feeling of prosperity and mental fulfillment.

A friend is a person whom one can know deeply, as and trust for eternity. Rather than having some likeness in the idea of two people associated with the friendship, they have some extraordinary qualities yet they want to be with each other without changing their uniqueness. By and large, friends spur each other without censuring, however at times great friends scrutinize do affect you in a positive manner.

Importance of Friendship:

It is very important to have a friend in life. Each friend is vital and their significance in known to us when certain circumstances emerge which must be supported by our friends. One can never feel lonely in this world on the off chance that he or she is embraced by true friends. Then again, depression wins in the lives of the individuals who don’t have friends regardless of billions of individuals present on the planet. Friends are particularly vital amid times of emergency and hardships. On the off chance that you wind up experiencing a hard time, having a friend to help you through can make the change simpler.

Having friends you can depend on can help your confidence. Then again, an absence of friends can make you feel lonely and without help, which makes you powerless for different issues, for example, sadness and drug abuse. Having no less than one individual you can depend on will formulate your confidence.

Choosing Your Friends Wisely:

Not all friends can instill the positivity in your life. There can be negative effects as well. It is very important to choose your friends with utmost wisdom. Picking the right friend is somewhat troublesome task however it is extremely important. In the event that for instance a couple of our dear friends are engaged with negative behaviour patterns, for example, smoking, drinking and taking drugs, at some point or another we will be attracted to their bad habits as well. This is the reason behind why it is appropriate to settle on an appropriate decision with regards to making friends.

Genuine friendship is truly a gift delighted in by a couple. The individuals who have it ought to express gratitude toward God for having genuine pearls in their lives and the individuals who don’t have a couple of good friends ought to always take a stab at better approaches to anchor great friends. No organization is superior to having a friend close by in the midst of need. You will stay cheerful in your one-room flat on the off chance that you are surrounded by your friends; then again, you can’t discover satisfaction even in your estate in the event that you are far away from others.

Types of Friends:

There is variety everywhere, so why not in friends. We can see different types of friends during our journey of life. For instance, your best friend at school is someone with whom you just get along the most. That friend, especially in the case of girls, may just get annoyed even if you talk to another of your friend more than her. Such is the childish nature of such friendships that at times it is difficult for others to identify whether you are best friends or competitors.

Then there is another category of your siblings. No matter how much you deny, but your siblings or your elder brother and sisters are those friends of yours who stay on with you for your entire life. You have a different set of friendship with them as you find yourself fighting with them most of the times. However, in times of need, you shall see that they are first ones standing behind you, supporting you.

There is another category of friends called professional friends. You come across such friends only when you grow up and choose a profession for yourself. These friends are usually from the same organisation and prove to be helpful during your settling years. Some of them tend to stay on with you even when you change companies.

Friendship Examples from History:

History has always taught us a lot. Examples of true friendship are not far behind. We have some famous example from history which makes us realise the true value of friendship. The topmost of them are the Krishna and Sudama friendship. We all must have read or heard as to how after becoming a king when Krishna met Sudama, his childhood friend, he treated him with honour even though Sudama was a poor person. It teaches us the friendship need not be between equals. It has to be between likeminded people. Next example is of Karna and Duryodhana, again from the Mahabharat era.

Despite knowing the fact that the Pandavas were his brothers, Karna went on to fight alongside Duryodhan as he is his best friend and even laid down his life for him. What more example of true friendship can one find? Again from the same era, Krishna and Arjun are also referred to as the best of the friends. Bhagavad Gita is an example of how a true friend can guide you towards positivity in life and make you follow the path of Dharma. Similarly, there are numerous examples from history which teach us the values of true friendship and the need to nourish such for own good.

Whether you accept or deny it, a friend plays an important role in your life. In fact, it is very important to have a friend. However, at the same time, it is extremely important to choose the friends wisely as they are the ones who can build you or destroy you. Nonetheless, a friend’s company is something which one enjoys all through life and friends should be treated as the best treasure a man can have.

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The Six Forces That Fuel Friendship

I’ve spent more than three years interviewing friends for “The Friendship Files.” Here’s what I’ve learned.

This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic , Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here.       

“ The Friendship Files ,” my series of interviews with friends about their friendships, began with an idle thought. Having written a lot about both friendship and dating apps , I was curious about Bumble BFF. Did it work? Did it feel like dating? What do you do on a friend date anyway? So I interviewed two young women who became best friends after using the app. It was intended as a onetime article, but the conversation was so fun, genuine, and sometimes vulnerable that I wanted to do it again.

Read: How friendships change in adulthood

That was more than three years ago. Since then, I have done 100 interviews. The 100th—which features a French woman and an American woman whose families were connected by an act of courage during World War II —published today. It will be the final installment.

Saying goodbye to this series is bittersweet. These conversations have felt different from any other interviews I’ve done. In them, I’ve not only heard about friendships, but witnessed them in real time—how the friends talk and joke together, how they remind each other of their shared history. I never did a single interview that I didn’t publish; every friendship has a story. I’m so grateful to the hundreds of people who have welcomed me into their relationships. Being trusted with your stories has been one of the greatest honors of my life.

When this project launched, I wrote , “People are at their most generous, their funniest, and their most fascinating when talking with and about their friends.” The interviews that followed only reinforced that belief. I could continue this for the rest of my life and only scratch the surface of the infinite ways friendship shapes our lives, but I’ve done my best to pull out the recurring themes I’ve observed from these 100 conversations. Though every bond evolves in its own way, I have come to believe that there are six forces that help form friendships and maintain them through the years: accumulation, attention, intention, ritual, imagination, and grace.

Accumulation

The simplest and most obvious force that forms and sustains friendships is time spent together. One study estimates that it takes spending 40 to 60 hours together within the first six weeks of meeting to turn an acquaintance into a casual friend, and about 80 to 100 hours to become more than that. So friendships unsurprisingly tend to form in places where people spend a lot of their time anyway: work , school , church , extracurricular activities .

Sometimes that time builds up slowly, as it did for two neighbors who have lived across the hall from each other for 20 years. They’ve checked in on each other when they were sick, and split a subscription to People magazine. That gradual accumulation of shared moments added up to an important friendship during the early days of the pandemic, when they were trapped inside. They opened their doors to talk across the hallway and each felt less alone.

Read: The pandemic forced these teens to sail home across the Atlantic

In other circumstances, those hours get put in really quickly. For instance, in March 2020, a group of teens from the Netherlands were trapped on a ship. They were doing a study-at-sea program, and were supposed to fly home from Cuba. But when COVID-19 started shutting things down, they couldn’t get a flight, and had to sail home across the Atlantic instead. I spoke with four kids who forged a bond on that sailing trip that felt different from their relationships with any of their other friends. “Being around someone 24 hours a day, you tell them everything,” one of the friends said. “You don’t do [that] when you are home.”

Making friends can be hard—but there may be more opportunities than we think. Doing these interviews has taught me that connection can come from anywhere, at any time, if both parties are open to it. As one woman, who stayed close with her ex-boyfriend’s mom for more than 30 years , told me: “You have to look for friendship in places you would never expect it.” A new friend could be waiting in the comments section of an article you’re reading , on the other side of a Google Doc , or in an elevator . The person you’re arguing with on Facebook could become a friend, and so could your ex’s new spouse , or even your ex themselves .

Read: What it’s like to truly be friends with your ex

Paying attention goes a long way when forging these unexpected friendships—noticing when you click with someone, being open to chance encounters. It helps to step out of our habits and into the moment. Because as much as we may feel like our social networks are set and settled, it’s never too late to meet someone who will be important to you for the rest of your life. I spoke with more than one group who was surprised and grateful to have found one another in middle age , a period when work and family responsibilities tend to peak and keeping up with friends is not always easy . “I never thought that in my late 40s I’d make friends for the rest of my life,” one man, who found a tight-knit community at fantasy baseball camp , told me. “This was such a special thing to come into my life at this age.”

Attention only gets you so far without action. When opportunity arises, you have to put yourself out there, and that requires courage, vulnerability, and a willingness to let things be awkward.

One of my favorite origin stories from “The Friendship Files” came from Abhinav and Fernando . Abhinav was learning to play tennis, and wanted a partner who was also a beginner. Across the court he spotted Fernando, “and I instantly found my equally sucking tennis partner.” A couple of weeks later, he approached Fernando at a party and invited him to play tennis. “What impressed me about that moment,” Fernando said, “was that it was kind of a date, in the sense that you sought me out. You had that intentionality. In between when you saw me sucking and the mixer, passed weeks. But you still had the plan, and you pursued me.”

Read: Overcoming American masculinity to build a deep male friendship

Most friendships require a bit of courtship to get going. And even when they do seemingly fall in our lap—say, you get stuck on a sailboat in the Atlantic with nothing to do but socialize with your fellow sailors—they won’t grow without intention. This is the hardest part of friendship. It takes energy and thought, and our mental and physical resources are often spread thin. In other words, friendships take work. But I have never liked framing our friendships as labor. Showing up for our friends takes effort, yes, but it shouldn’t be drudgery. It should be a joy.

One thing that seems to make keeping up with friends easier is ritual. I personally find that the effort of coordinating hangs (or even phone calls) is the biggest barrier to seeing my friends. It’s much easier when something is baked into my schedule, and all I have to do is show up. For instance, while working from home during the pandemic, I’ve gotten lunch every Friday with my friend who lives around the corner (when it’s been safe to do so).

Many of those I’ve interviewed also have rituals like these. Some have organized a book club , a monthly hike , or a regular dinner party . Others have committed to a group chat that runs all day every day , or a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that’s lasted for 30 years . In addition to keeping groups close, these traditions can fuel a friendship and give it a shared culture. The Dungeons & Dragons group has a shorthand with references stretching back decades.

Read: What it’s like to carry on a tradition with a friend who can’t remember it

The power of a ritual was particularly evident in the story of two friends, Gabe and Andy, who, for more than six years, have walked 30 minutes to give each other a high five . But then Gabe got sick, and lost his memory. He didn’t remember the high five, although he remembered Andy. In the hospital, Andy asked Gabe to give him a high five on the walk from the bathroom. They had a particular way of doing it—a clap, a snap, and then a high five.

“I started walking toward him,” Andy told me, “and then right before the high five, he did the clap, and the snap, and I just started crying.”

“That’s one of the things I love about the routine,” Gabe said. “Not just the mechanics of it, but the friendship part of it is so burned into my body memory that that’s what came out.”

Imagination

Society has a place for friendships, and it’s on the sidelines. They’re supposed to play a supporting role to work, family, and romance. It takes imagination not to default to this norm, and to design your life so that friendship plays the role you really want it to.

Read: What if friendship, not marriage, was at the center of life?

I’m inspired by the people I’ve spoken with who imagined something different for themselves: the friends who bought a house together , who went to therapy together , who have raised their children together , who committed to an “arranged friendship,” whose friendship has fueled their fight for justice . The man who gave his friend a kidney and the woman who gave birth to her best friend’s quadruplets remind me that there are friends who choose to love each other radically every day. Their love does not stand on the sidelines.

Quieter ways of showing your friends love can still be radical. The beauty and the challenge of friendship is its diversity. A friendship can be whatever you want it to. Each one is a canvas whose only limit is our imagination.

All of the forces I’ve mentioned so far—accumulation, attention, intention, ritual, and imagination—are ideals. They’re impossible to fully live up to. Life often gets in the way.

As a reporter who’s covered friendship for many years, I sometimes suffer from imposter syndrome in my own friendships. Who am I to be dispensing advice when I can’t even text my friends back promptly? Sometimes, people have assumed that I must be a really great friend, given how much time I’ve spent thinking about this. And I’m not. I try to be, but I tend to retreat too much into myself and my romantic relationship and don’t prioritize my friends as much as I’d like to.

I’ve written before about how friendship is flexible, and bends to fit the shape our lives need it to. But during the pandemic, I saw just how elastic it can be, how it can stretch to allow long silences, how it can snap back into place when you least expect. Inspired by a “Friendship Files” interview , I spent many Saturdays during the pandemic having “PowerPoint parties” on Zoom with friends who live across the country. I saw them more during those months than I had in years. It was unexpected, and special. And it couldn’t have happened if we were angry or resented one another for all those years of limited contact.

Read: If you and your friends are bored, PowerPoint parties may be the answer

Many of the people I spoke with—who, in many cases, love each other so much that they nominated themselves to be interviewed about their friendship—told me that they don’t see each other that often, or that they don’t talk as much as they would like. I’ve come to believe that friendship doesn’t always have to be about presence; it can also be about love that can weather absence.

But absence doesn’t have to last forever. “The Friendship Files” includes many stories of second chances and rekindlings . There are the elementary-school friends who started hanging out with former classmates again after their 50-year reunion, the Vietnam veterans who fell out of touch after the war until one of them wrote a letter and brought them back together, and even the high-school best friends who reconnected after one decided to return a sweatshirt he’d borrowed 20 years earlier. After that last interview was published, they told me that a lot of their other high-school friends had reached out to them, and they’d all gotten together for a reunion.

I’m not religious, but I do love the concept of grace, of a gift so profound that it could never be earned or deserved. And so when I cite grace here as the final and most important force in friendships, I mean it in two ways. One is the forgiveness that we offer each other when we fall short. The other is the space that creates for connections—and reconnections—that feel nothing short of miraculous.

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53 This I Believe Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best this i believe topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting this i believe topics to write about, ❓ this i believe questions.

• This I Believe: What Goes Around Comes Around – Essay I never did my homework and it became so hard for me to catch up with the rest in class. This was the time when I remembered the words of my grandmother “only fools rush […]
• Art and Creativity to Solve Problems I believe that art is the deepest expression of the society and the beliefs it underscores. I believe in the unity of the human race and bringing an end to racism and human trafficking.
• This I Believe: Making the Most Out of Time
• Discovery Can Be a Nuisance: This I Believe in Genetics
• This I Believe: Life and Creativity
• A Philosophy of Health Education: This I Believe
• This I Believe: Thomas Mann on Time and the Meaning of Our Existence
• This I Believe About the Care of Human Beings
• Acceptance and Respect for Beliefs Different From One’s Own: This I Believe
• This I Believe: Live a Life of Love
• Resources in Support of This We Believe
• The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women: This I Believe
• This I Believe: My Positive Outlook on Life
• Activities of the Non-profit Organization: This I Believe
• Goals and Philosophy of This I Believe
• The Personal Philosophies of People From All Walks of Life for This I Believe
• Thought Provoking by This I Believe
• “This I Believe” About the Good Life: What It Means to an Immigrant
• Discussing This I Believe Topics in Public Places
• This I Believe: An Intermission From This Fast–Paced Life
• Writing Tips for This I Believe
• This I Believe- Type of Leader
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• This I Believe: Positivity Is the Key to Success
• Uncovering Sources of Power From Personal Beliefs in This I Believe by Eve Ensler
• Using This I Believe in Common Reading Programs
• This I Believe: Self-Determination
• What Psychologists and Psychotherapists Say About the Program This I Believe?
• How Do You Begin an Essay for This I Believe?
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• Can People From Other Countries Write to the Program This I Believe?
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• Is It Possible to Describe Bad Life Experiences in This I Believe?
• How Many Years Has the Program This I Believe Been in Existence?
• Were There Cases When People Described Crimes in the Program This I Believe?
• Does This I Believe Have Any Connections With National Suicide Prevention Lifeline?
• Has the Program This I Believe Ever Featured Stories About War or Refugees?
• How Does the Program This I Believe Help to Change Lives?
• What Is This I Believe Purpose?
• What Are the Most Popular Essay Topics for the Program This I Believe?
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How To Write A Winning This I Believe Essay

One of the common types of academic writing you are likely to encounter is this I believe essay. In this type of essay, you are required to write about something you believe in. Note that unlike many students think, the topic does not have to be related to religion. For example, you can write about something you love or interested in.

Although writing this I believe essay might sound simple; many students find it one of the complex types of academic writing. To help make the process simpler, we created this guide to help you understand how to write the best this I believe essay. We have also highlighted the 22 hot essay ideas that you can use.

How To Write This I Believe Essays

Here’s a brief guideline on how to write a good belief essay:

• Get a good essay topic When you are faced with the task of writing a this I believe essay, the first step is selecting a good topic. At this point, you should look for something that you have learned about through various experiences, life struggles, or humanity. Because it is a piece of academic writing, it is advisable to go for a topic that has some resources that you can use to back personal arguments. This will make the essay weighty and earn you more marks.

In the body of the essay, you should dig into more details about your beliefs. Make sure to discuss each point in a separate paragraph and provide examples to support it. If the narrative is long, break it down into several sections and use subtopics.

• Write and proofread your essay After developing the essay structure, it is time to start writing it. Pool together the main points and write a draft. Then work on the final copy and proofread it carefully to remove all mistakes. You could even ask an unbiased friend to help proofread the essay.

Special Tips for Writing this I Believe Essay

Once your teacher asks you to write an assignment on this I believe essay; the secret is ensuring to understand a concept that you are passionate about. To make it simpler for you, try to be truthful. Here are some more tips to help you craft a winning this I believe essay:

Follow the guidelines provided by your teacher or department. Make sure to focus on the item of interest and support it with personal examples. If possible, support the essay with secondary resources. Make sure to stay positive about the topic of interest. Because you are working on something personal, make sure to write in the first person. Try to be as concise as possible. The focus should be selecting points that explain your belief and restricting the essay within the recommended number of words. Read other this I believe essay examples to understand how to craft a winning paper. Most samples can help you to understand how to structure the essay and discuss different topics.

Top This I Believe Essay Topics

The most critical thing about writing a this I believe essay is selecting a topic idea because it determines what to focus on and points to discuss. To help you get started, we are going to list 22 hot this I believe essay ideas for you. Go ahead and pick the one you prefer or tweak them to suit your preference.

• I believe in having a lot of fun in and out of school.
• I believe in using a mentor to build a career.
• I believe in using advanced technology for learning.
• I believe I am unique.
• I believe in dreaming big and going out of my way to succeed.
• I believe in hard work to succeed in life.
• I believe in my facility.
• I believe in our justice system to build a harmonious society.
• I believe in repentance and hope.
• I believe that time is the best way to cure pain.
• I believe in the support of my family.
• I believe in our culture.
• I believe in love.
• I believe in the power of God to heal the sick.
• I believe in life after death.
• I believe in doctors’ ability to help pregnant mothers safely deliver their babies.
• I believe I can make my county better.
• I believe in my basketball team.
• I believe in always trusting my guts.
• I believe in the nature top address the problem of global warming.
• I believe in dedication to my duties at work.
• I believe that everyone’s life is predetermined.

This I Believe Essay Topics

Are you looking for the best this I believe essay topics? You can start with these. They are all dynamic and don’t point to just one subject. They are based on different realities of life.

• Everyone has a positive outlook on life
• Success requires self-determination
• Life and creativity and interlinked.
• A good life provides a positive outlook on my life
• There are stipulated fundamental factors to success.
• There are many modes of achieving success.
• Sure shortcut to reading fast
• There isn’t any accurate journey to success.
• Determination leads to better time management
• Collaboration is the start of a beautiful career journey.
• Immigrants also have beautiful lives.
• Making the most of the available time in a day leads to more goal achievement.
• A good life is the result of hard work and determination.
• Many factors lead to stigmatization
• The right implementation can help improve the health care setting.
• Proper conservation can lead to a cleaner ecosystem and environment.
• Well-built bonds can lead to an increase in better human relations.
• The industrial revolution will make an impact on the world.

This I Believe Essay Topic Ideas

What do you conform to? Do you think your beliefs are similar to your neighbors? Then you can consider challenging yourself using this I believe essay topic.

• I believe that the world can be a better place when justice is implemented
• I believe that love can help to sustain many family bonds
• I believe positivity is a major factor that leads to success.
• I believe that people should have a positive outlook on life.
• I believe that leaders are both born and made.
• I believe that friendship is important when it comes to socialization
• I believe that strong family bonds lead to the prosperity of different people in certain capacities.
• I believe that the solar system needs to be done more research.
• I believe that all dreams are valid
• I believe that many ideas can be implemented.
• I believe in kindness, honesty, and faith.
• I believe that every person has a role to play to make an impact in the world.
• I believe that college plays a big role in making students think out of the box.
• I believe that robots will play a huge role in the future.
• I believe that artificial intelligence will boost the business world.
• I believe that everyone has a right to a good life.
• I believe that life is much simpler when people help each other.
• I believe that all ideas are valid, regardless of how crazy they seem.

This I Believe Essay Topic List

We all have different beliefs that make us who we are. However, you don’t need to be too rigid, you need to be flexible enough to accept any new perceptions. The world is ever-changing.

• People can get visions that later become reality.
• Animals have a brain of their own.
• Every person on earth has a mission.
• Sports are essential for boosting flexibility.
• Technical ideas can help make the world easier to live in.
• People have different callings in their professions.
• Everyone has a good heart.
• The world can be a better place without any violence.
• Dead people can listen to us.
• Ancestors still exist within us.
• All the different professions have a purpose.
• Augmented reality will change the world.
• Industry 4.0 will help to revolutionize the world.
• Everyone was assigned a purpose at birth.
• A good mindset leads to more happiness.
• Patience and perseverance are important in life situations.
• Faith, love, and hope are important.
• Everyone has virtues they follow.

Best Belief Essay Ideas

People have different beliefs that make them who they are. However, you need to make a point of having a firm stand on what seems like the reality of life.

• I believe everything happens for a reason.
• I believe that miracles do happen.
• I believe that healing happens to those who have faith.
• I believe in the power of prayer
• I believe in the existence of aliens
• I believe that anger can at times be a good thing.
• I believe that people need to accept themselves as they are
• I believe that people connect better by giving
• I believe that ordinary people can change the world.
• I believe it is more important to focus on the bigger picture.
• I believe that the environment one lives in plays a role in how one grows up
• I believe in workplace ethics.
• I believe that families are the greatest support system
• I believe that family support escalates how fast one heals when sick.
• I believe that people start socializing better when young
• I believe that information technology is a game-changer
• I believe that equality of people can make the world a better place.
• I believe that everyone needs to have goals in life.

Interesting This I Believe Research Essays

When doing an essay, you need to do proper research to ensure that you capture all that is needed. Here are some interesting “this I believe” essay topics from our essay writers for hire that you can start with.

• You should worry about being judged by others.
• Without education, you can’t succeed in life.
• Creativity is both inborn and made.
• Anger can spoil many things.
• Change comes from within.
• Being kind to others is important.
• Knowledge can help you succeed in life.
• Reading helps to increase your creativity.
• Having two jobs can help you prosper in life.
• Everyone has a right to true happiness.
• Good parenting is good for moral adults.
• Ordinary people can change the world.
• Humanity is vital for everyone.
• We all have different realities.
• Nations can simply be led by laws without men.
• Without rules, the world can be dangerous.
• Injustices can be reduced.
• Small acts of kindness go a long way.

What’s Next?

Now that we have provided you with great essay topics demonstrated how to start a this I believe essay and close it, it is time to get down to writing your paper. However, if you still find it hard to write your college essay or the deadline is tight, consider seeking writing help or buy homework .

Writing assistance is provided by experts who understand what is the best this I believe essay format and can craft it even within short deadlines. Also, they are cheap and provide their services with a guarantee for high marks. Therefore, why settle for average marks when you have an opportunity to get A-quality papers?

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This I believe Illinois

High school essay winners write from the heart.

By Karen Ackerman Witter

This I Believe is an annual essay contest for high school seniors sponsored by NPR Illinois.  Modeled after the program started by radio journalist Edward R. Murrow in 1951, students are invited to write an essay sharing their own personal beliefs.  This year, 151 students within the NPR Illinois listening area submitted essays.  Ten reviewers each read a group of essays and scored them based on originality, positivity and being personal and compelling.  Judges then reviewed and discussed the highest rated essays to select the 2023 top 10 essays.

High school seniors in Springfield and many communities throughout the NPR Illinois listening area submitted essays.  This year’s winners are from Glenwood, Hillsboro, Litchfield, Rochester and Sullivan high schools, A-C Central High School in Ashland, Meridian High School in Blue Mound and Unity Christian High School in Decatur.

This is the 18 th year for This I Believe. The Rotary Club of Springfield Sunrise has been a partner from the beginning, providing a cash award to the 10 winners. This year each student will receive $500, thanks to donations from the Rotary Club of Springfield Sunrise, BLH Computers and Mary Beth and Harvey M. Stephens. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) is hosting the culminating event, and Illinois Times is printing the winning essays.

Students will read their essays at the ALPLM on Thursday, Nov. 9. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the program starts at 6:30 p.m., followed by a dessert reception.  The event is free and open to the public. Registration in advance is encouraged.  To register for the Meet the Authors event, go to https://go.uis.edu/TIB .

Avery Hopper – Sullivan High School

I believe that there is magic all around us. Ever since I was young, my mind had been filled with all the magical possibilities in the world. While these ideas were influenced by many things, I believe that this gentle fire of ideas was sparked and maintained by my great-aunt, who encouraged every creative thought I spoke of: Fairies spreading joy in the garden, elves creating wonderful inventions in the forests and sleepy dragons who rested among their riches in the mountains. We spoke of each of these things so vividly that they almost became real to me.

I started to look for magic in every aspect of my life. I found the most mystical of ideas in the most ordinary scenarios. I would picture ghosts blowing bubbles in my drink to make the carbonation, generous merfolk placing seashells at my feet in ocean waters on vacation and giants in the shapes of clouds. I thought of all these things, and they each filled me with a cheery sense of wonder.

My great-aunt was my biggest fan. She would read the crude scribbles of stories I wrote in twistable colored pencil, admire the rough crayon doodles I handed her and always listen to me babble on about the newest idea I'd come up with. She told me of classic and timeless stories, such as the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, she showed me games that contained magic creatures and she was always open to watching the most imaginative cartoons with me.

I wish so desperately that I could share the new stories I've written with her, that I could show her how much I've improved at art, and that I could listen to a story from her one last time, but even the most magical of people fade away one day. I lost my great-aunt to cancer a few years ago. I lost my first best friend and one of my biggest supporters, but I never lost my creative spirit. She would never forgive me if I did.

I know now that carbonation is from the liquid being infused with CO2, that finding seashells is more of a luck-based thing than I originally thought and that clouds just kind of look like that. However, I will never let go of the ideas that I used to have, nor will I stop thinking up new ones. Despite things having a more scientific side than I had hoped, I still find a childlike joy in the thought that there is a greater force of some kind out there, that things happen for a reason and that there is no such thing as truly impossible.

Humans are creative little creatures, and dreaming big is something we're known for. So why should I be told to stop daydreaming about the more whimsical things life might have to offer?

"What happened to my outgoing little girl?" It was a question I always found my mom asking me. "She learned that something is wrong with her," I would always respond in my head. I could never figure out what exactly was wrong with me, but I knew that my peers figured it out: I was out of place.

I felt this for the first time in first grade when I excitedly walked up to my friends, ready to join them for recess – and they turned me away, saying they didn't want me around that day, so they could have fun. I left, upset, and spent my time walking around the playground alone.

This pattern continued until the third grade, when I moved schools. My mom was optimistic that I would fit in there; but I, on the other hand, was dreading the moment when my classmates would take one look at me and decide I'm not good enough. When the first day of school rolled around, my fears were proven true. I once again spent my recesses alone, but this time on the swings. As I swung, I watched everyone on the playground and listened to their chatter. "I feel like an alien," I once thought while I watched a group of laughing girls pass by. "Maybe I am an alien."

After school, I would also sit alone, leaning against the window on a bumpy bus ride. I was doing just that when something cold and wet hit my head. I looked up to see that it was pouring outside, and the windows had been left hanging open. I, along with others on the bus, rushed to close the windows near me. Once I had closed my window, I looked around to see if everything else was shut and caught the eye of a girl with long red hair. "I like your shirt!" I blurted out, surprising myself. I mentally facepalmed. I didn't even actually like her shirt! Why did I say that? "Thanks," she said smiling, and suddenly my blatant lie didn't seem to matter anymore. "My name's Lydia, what's yours?"

Lydia became my first real friend. She never asked me to leave her alone, and she always laughed at my jokes. Being odd didn't seem to matter anymore because I had someone to be odd with. When Lydia would get called weird, she would always reply, "Thank you, that's a compliment." I started saying that as well – and eventually started to believe it.

When middle school came about, we went to different schools, but I still carried her words with me. I kept growing my confidence and became OK with standing out. I started joining activities like drama club, and I even became a cheerleader last year. It has now been 10 years since I met Lydia, and I still believe being called weird is a compliment.

The power of airports

Mark McDonald – Rochester High School

I found myself winding through the infamous "mile-long line" at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Frustration simmering within me, I whispered the famous words of every impatient child: "I hate this."

Yet, amidst the wait, something changed. I took a few moments to take in my surroundings: Families clustered with luggage, passports in hand; arrivals and departures boards disclosing imminent flights; flight attendants offering welcoming smiles at the gate. The symphony of rolling suitcases and the gleam of laminated floors underfoot; wall art that extends hospitality in forms such as "Hello" and "Welcome" in a multitude of languages. The flight staff's warm salutations, ushering you toward your destination with wishes for a joyful journey ahead. An uncanny sense of belonging pervades these spaces.

Growing up in an immigrant family, traveling thousands of miles to visit my grandparents was my norm. There were no grand Thanksgiving feasts or festive Christmas gatherings; no "Granny's visiting soon because Dad and I have work." Airports, for me, embodied a catalyst of cherished childhood memories – summer visits to grandma and grandpa's house in England, or mama and papa's in Hungary. Understandably, airports took on a deep personal significance, woven into the fabric of a childhood shaped by cross-continental connections. As I became more independent, airports assumed new roles: Igniting the flames of adventure, sparking discoveries, and kindling learning.

Airports also bring to mind the radiant smiles of Nicaraguan children who received soccer balls and school supplies from us during our visit — now many years ago. Airports conjure memories of the tradition of annual spring breaks spent with my mother, exploring various American cities, both to relax and to learn: Washington, D.C., unveiled the inner workings of the American democratic machine; Boston's historic sites painted a vivid picture of the Revolutionary War and our nation's formative years; San Francisco illuminated the rich tapestry of immigration and industry; and New York City bared its artistic soul through music and culture.

I believe there's an ethereal quality to the anonymity of airports. Yet, this very anonymity kindles a shared purpose – to reach one's destination collectively. Airports act as a crucible, uniting people from across the globe in their pursuit of diverse destinations – even when their intentions diverge. Moreover, airports signify potential beyond history. They encapsulate my aspiration to become an ambassador for my homeland – a global emissary, striking agreements, conveying messages and embracing diverse cultures.

Stepping back, I recognize that airports are not just personal to me. They have the power to inspire and connect people around the world. Airports, symbols of diplomatic collaboration, underscore respect and trust, allowing individuals to cross borders freely for leisure or exploration. But in a more figurative sense, airports foster emotions, experiences and inspiration, which are the keystones of human motivation.

In this intricate tapestry of experiences and aspirations, I find my unwavering belief in the power of airports. They are the vessels of dreams, the crossroads of cultures and the embodiment of limitless potential.

I believe in big mouths and small mouthpieces

Angel Trader – Litchfield High School

As I blew air through the tiny mouthpiece of my trumpet, the sounds coming out just weren't correct. I was frustrated; I was ready to give up. All my fellow trumpet players were already hitting notes an octave higher than the note I was struggling with.

My band teacher could see all the built-up frustration I had. She then pulled out a new instrument I had never seen before. What could it be? My band teacher took the trumpet and offered me this new instrument to try. "The baritone," she called it. "It has a bigger mouthpiece. I think your mouth is too big for the tiny mouthpiece that comes with the trumpet." I was embarrassed, but now I realize this choice I made in the sixth grade was the best decision of my music career.

Music, for me, is an escape from reality. I can express myself through what I'm listening to, what and how I'm playing music, or what I have chosen to sing that day. It's a form of therapy that I have created for myself that is easily accessible. I have created friendships with people through band, choir and even just sharing a common love for music or a certain music genre. When I am stressing out about a school assignment or a math test, I put in my earbuds and lose myself to my newest favorite song as I write or study.

All this love came from the day I started playing the baritone. I have never been prouder to show off something new I've learned. As music became a more active part of my life, I realized that it was a love I wanted to share with other people. I serve as my marching band's drum major and share the love with my fellow band members as we learn a new drill. I am also able to share the love with the audience at football games as we perform our newest halftime show and with all the parents of our band members as they listen to our concert. I am honored to be a part of my school's Chamber Choir – an audition choir – where all our members share a common love for music. I can express these loves every day, in so many different settings, and I have found true happiness through this.

I have even decided to further share my love and study music. Music therapy is a form of interactive therapy that uses music to help the brain; this is what I have chosen to study in college. This way I can help others while also showing them how music can change lives. Music has changed my life for the better. It helped me find a healthy stress reliever and true happiness. I have now been in band for seven years and choir for six years. I couldn't imagine my life without music now. I believe in big mouths and small mouthpieces.

I believe in sewing

Andrew Doellman – A-C Central High School

I believe in sewing. When I was a young child, I often had to deal with abusive and toxic situations. I can't count on my hands how many times I wanted to run away from it all. However, I would soon find my wonderful little escape – sewing.

When I was 9 years old, I lost my great-grandpa. I always looked up to him and I knew everyone else did too. After his death, I could only think about how horrible my great-grandma, his wife, must have felt. I decided that I wanted to make her a gift, something for her to look at and smile. I took up my needle and thread for the first time and embroidered her a small tea towel. She was so happy when she saw it, and she still has it hanging up to this day. I felt proud and accomplished for the first time in many years – and from that day forward, I was hooked.

I have often watched the needle on my sewing machine run in and out of the fabric, like a rabbit running through the woods. I continue to find solace in watching it. Sewing is a very therapeutic hobby for me. Sewing allows me to escape and just dream of a happier future.

Sewing is now a part of my daily life. Whenever I feel lost or depressed, my needle and thread sit, waiting to listen. My hands have learned all new skills; my pillows and clothes have become more intricate. I feel proud of what I can do. Showing off my work makes me feel good and has helped immensely to restore my self-confidence. I am my own amazing person, but I needed that needle and thread to show me that.

I'm much older than I was when I started using sewing as a refuge, but sewing never left my heart or my hands. Sometimes I just love to watch the needle plunge deep into the fabric before quickly emerging back through the top. The gentle and simple motion of the sewing machine is relaxing and a beautiful reminder of just how far I have come – and how far I have left to go. I know that whether by hand or machine, that sewing will always be there for me when I need it — my own little sanctuary.

I believe in long nails

Marianna Lowe – Hillsboro High School

My hands are red and pruny from being in my mouth too long. There is a slight discharge of blood from one nail bed.

I can't stop.

I wish I could keep biting and picking at my fingers, but my hands feel like they are submerged in a tank of piranhas. My heart is swimming with them.

Biting my nails was the only way I knew how to cope with stress. I grew up in a house where the minute I heard a loud sound, I knew it was going to be a long night. My mother's boyfriend was on his first beer – and there were many more to come. First, it was doors smashing into their frames, then cabinets cracking from force, and sometimes it was glass being reduced to shards.

When this violent behavior occurred, I didn't have time to cower in a corner and pray that he wouldn't come into my room. I had to go into the inferno. I was the one who cleaned up the glass. I was the one clearing the endless Guinness cans off the counter. In between these chores, I gnawed at my fingers, savoring every bite that I took. I chewed them until they started bleeding and sometimes, I moved down my fingers, pulling and tearing at my skin. The mutilation was painful, but it was my reward. Like an extra suitcase, my habit followed me right out the door when we finally left.

Despite the distance and growth I've enjoyed since this time, there are days where I am in so much distress that all I want to do is rip my hands apart and bite them until they bleed. But then, I remember the pain, and I never want to feel it again. After all, I have learned to cope – through a lot of therapy, obviously – but also by getting my nails done. I would save up my money, head to the nail salon, and get the longest, practical nails available. Despite tending to wear drab clothes, my go-to nail colors became lavender, rosy future, and bubblegum pink.

Now, I look at my hands, and the corners of my lips reach my ears. I love having long nails. I love ceaselessly tapping on every surface in the house. I love the struggle of picking up change because I cannot get the right angle with my nails. And now, I love being able to just get my natural nails painted because they've been allowed to grow long enough to pass as acrylics.

This is why I believe in long nails. To me, they are so much more than a fashion accessory: Nails are a reminder to care for myself – the self that deserved care all along.

I believe in friendship bracelets

Sofia Flick – Glenwood High School

When I was about 8 years old, I went to a camp called PAVE. It was a theater camp, and at the end of every session, we would put on a play for all the parents. This particular session, there was a friendship bracelet fad. Our art teacher tried to teach us how to make them, but for some reason, I never "got it." The process of tying a bunch of strings together and ending up with a bracelet was too confusing. At the end of the session, the other kids in my group had arms covered in bracelets that they exchanged with each other. I pretended not to mind that all my friends had a physical symbol of their friendship while I didn't.

Eventually, that fad ended. Before I knew it, I was 16, and about to enter my junior year of high school. I hadn't thought about friendship bracelets for years, until my family was coming home from vacation. I was scrolling through Instagram when I saw a video of someone making a bracelet. I initially thought nothing of it and scrolled past. However, a few hours later, I found myself searching "how to tie friendship bracelet knots," and "how to read friendship bracelet patterns." By that evening, I had watched at least five tutorial videos.

I don't know what compelled me to learn to make friendship bracelets. I wish I could give that particular day sentimental value, but I think I was fueled through pure teenage boredom. The thing that kept me making these bracelets at first was the show I was in, Matilda. I was the oldest person playing a kid. The younger kids in the show looked up to me, and I wanted to make them all something to remember me by.

I really thought that would be the end of an era, and by the beginning of the school year I would be out of my bracelet phase, but I was wrong. Every show I was in, every new friend I made, even every time I was bored, I would make a bracelet. When I was a camp counselor at PAVE, I sat down with every kid that was interested and taught them how to make bracelets too. Now my arms are covered in bracelets, and even more line my bathroom counter.

As a kid, I wanted so badly to be like everyone else, and I felt like I stuck out – but not in a good way. Now, I embrace all those personality traits that younger me was ashamed of. I'm bold, I'm loud, I'm outgoing – and now, I try to pass along this acceptance to the younger kids who look up to me. I like that my love for bracelets makes me stand out, and I hope that by being myself, I influence the kids who look up to me to be proud of who they are.

Blood doesn't equal family

Emilie Harrison – Unity Christian School

Sometimes a biological family isn't going to be the people you need in your life. In my case, I was adopted when I was 4 years old after a lengthy court battle between my family and my biological mother. From the beginning, she had said she couldn't take care of a child and didn't want one. As soon as it came time for the finalization, she brought my family to court and fought it. Instead of an easy process, it was long and painful for all parties. I still had to visit her, but I never remember considering her a parent of mine.

Soon, my birth mother lost interest. I stopped seeing her early on. When I realized I wasn't going to see her again, I sadly felt a sense of relief. At that time, I was just appreciative I would stop bouncing between homes. My memories of her have slipped away by now, and I've moved on. It has never mattered to me that I was adopted. Instead, I'm grateful for the gift of someone to care for me.

Unfit blood parents cause countless issues for their children by selfishly dragging the kids into their problems, just as mine did. It can be necessary for those children to find other parents – people ready and willing to take on the responsibility of having a child. Even friends can be family, anyone close ... you never know who will end up having that sort of connection with you.

I was given a second chance. As I grow, I've found better people to influence me and be a part of my life. Since I was privileged to have been adopted, I have access to a good education and support through anything that may happen – something I would have never experienced otherwise. Despite the absence of biological family in my life, I will never regret not knowing them. Blood or not, I believe family is what you make, not what you are born into.

I believe in breakups

Lily Churchwell - Hillsboro High School

"We need to talk"

The glow behind the letters dims and goes dark. I'm at my friend Sophie's house, listening to Harry Styles's new album, when I get the "we need to talk" text from Ethan [name has been changed to protect the identity of jerk]. At first, I don't think anything of it, because we're already planning on hanging out with a group of friends next Sunday. However, when I start asking follow-up questions and getting terse answers, my heart starts to race. He is breaking up with me.

"I just think this is better for the both of us"

My stomach is being pushed down to the depths of the earth. Tears fall into the white porcelain sink. I look up into the mirror to see my glassy red eyes in the reflection before staring daggers through the obnoxious pink hand towel with a smiley face on it.

What did I do? How can I get him back? Did I change?

This breakup put me into a weirdly dark place, where I start thinking of myself through the eyes of others, rather than my own. When getting dressed, I intricately choose clothing that will be the most pleasing for dudes to look at. I strive to look effortless, even though I care too much because: Guys like girls who aren't afraid to show skin.

I also change my personality because: Guys don't like loud girls. I remain silent in class discussions, so my questions won't be viewed as dumb. This becomes a problem so severe that it affects my understanding of classroom material because I'm just too afraid to ask for help. Looking around, I start to see the signs. My grades are slowly dropping and my oversized Jonas Brothers T-shirt in the closet is collecting dust. This realization hit me like a bus – a bus going a trillion miles an hour.

Why was I doing this? I'm not planning on pursuing anything with any of these boys in my life, so why do I want to please them so much? Why did I become this person? I'm not like this.

This isn't me .

Now, I wear my Jonas Brothers shirt frequently and don't give it a second thought, because it pleases me. I want to be who I really am, rather than what I assume a guy wants me to be. A single text message turned my world upside down. However, I used my mental dilemma to better my self-perception. I believe in forming a sense of self that is only dependent on what makes me happy. This is why I believe in breakups.

Finding the quiet in your life

Amy Yang – Glenwood High School

I am not a morning person. I am the definition of a night owl, and yet I find myself waking up to the sound of my alarm ringing at 5 a.m. I reach over to stop the jarring sound and drag myself out of bed. Still half asleep, I go through the motions of my routine. After I mentally prepare myself for the day ahead of me (and wake myself up a little more), I slide into my car.

The drive is quiet; the roads are empty and all I hear is the sound of my music playing in the background. This moment of peace is one of the (few) benefits of waking up this early. There is a sense of serenity driving down empty roads, the sky still dark, not yet illuminated by the sun. I may be driving towards the ice rink, a place full of bright lights, sounds and expectations, but in these 20 short minutes, it is quiet.

I've always been called loud. My voice can be heard across rooms, through walls, permeating through the air. I laugh easily and talk even easier. Excitement causes my voice to have a mind of its own, words falling out of my mouth in quick succession. Even skating is dependent on sound, with my role being to perform according to my music. My life is defined by sound: When it's not filled with the sound of my own voice, it's filled with the sounds of others or music blasting through my headphones. It seems like there are rarely any moments of true silence in my life, but during this short 20-minute drive to the rink, my life quiets.

In an all-too-hectic world, it is often hard to justify taking a break. It feels out of place in such a fast-paced society. I'm often left feeling like the world is pushing me to match the constant movement it's experiencing, allotting no time for silence or breaks, lest it leaves me behind.

But during these slow, early morning drives, I'm reminded to admire the beauty in the quiet and to enjoy the peace that comes with stillness. And while it may be my still half-asleep self talking, in these early mornings I am no longer burdened by the stresses and fears that normally weigh me down. I find myself simply existing in the world.

My friends will think it's ironic that I am writing an essay about quiet when I am so rarely it, but quiet isn't necessarily just the absence of sound. Quiet is the calm right before my music starts at competitions. It's the world turning around me during a spin and the minute my blade lands back on ice after a jump. It's the moment the sun starts to rise after an all-nighter. Quiet is the 20-minute drive to the rink. And so, I believe that quiet is everywhere – you just have to allow yourself to slow down enough to recognize it.

About The Author

Karen Ackerman Witter

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50 I Believe Essay Topics

To better train students on how to present their personal opinions on subjective matters, teachers will assign what is known as an “I Believe” or “This I Believe” essay writing assignment.

Designed to provide the reader with insight into the writer’s character, these essays are typically written in first-person point of view. The writer shares their beliefs on a particular topic – ranging from religion and politics to more personal subjects such as love and happiness – and offers supporting arguments for why they hold these beliefs.

The Challenges of Writing “I Believe” Essays

This type of essay prompt is a welcome break from more detail-oriented or researched-based writing assignments for many students. However, “I believe” essay writing assignments aren’t always easy.

It can be challenging for students to articulate their beliefs in a clear and concise way that isn’t argumentative or offensive to the reader. Students may also struggle to explain their reasoning behind these beliefs in a thorough and not overly simplistic way.

Despite these challenges, “I believe” essays can be an excellent opportunity for students to share their thoughts and feelings on important topics and learn more about themselves in the process.

Tips for Writing “I Believe” Essays

If you’re given an “I believe” essay assignment, here are a few tips to help you get started:

• Start by defining what it is that you believe. This may seem like a simple task, but it can be challenging to identify your core beliefs. If you’re struggling, start by jotting down a list of topics that are important to you – from politics and religion to family and friendship.
• Reflect on why each topic is important to you. Think about the reasoning behind your choices and how these reasons evolved over time. After all, your core beliefs are likely to have changed or grown since you reached adolescence.
• Determine which of your beliefs are the most important. Focusing on developing thought processes that support your beliefs. For extra help, consider sharing these thoughts with a trusted friend or family member for advice.

By reflecting upon your core beliefs and developing clear arguments to support them, you can craft a powerful “I believe” essay that will truly reflect your thoughts and feelings.

How to Write an “I Believe” Essay

To craft a well-written “I Believe” essay, students must forgo the typical essay structure of introduction, body, and conclusion.

Instead, the essay should be organized around a series of specific beliefs that the writer wishes to share. Each thought should be introduced with a clear thesis statement, followed by supporting arguments and examples.

The conclusion of the essay should wrap up the main points that have been made and leave the reader with a final thought to ponder.

Here is an example of how an “I Believe” essay might be structured:

Thesis: I believe that everyone has the right to love and be loved.

Argument: Everyone deserves to find love and experience happiness in their lives. This should not be limited by race, religion, socioeconomic status, or any other factor.

Example: I saw a video of a man proposing to his girlfriend at Fenway Park. She said yes and the crowd went wild! Now that is love. If they can find it, then so can we all!

Conclusion: Society should not stand in the way of love. Love is the most powerful force in the world, and we should all embrace it.

As you can see, the “I Believe” essay structure allows for a great deal of flexibility. Students can choose to focus on a variety of topics and can organize their essays in different ways. An “I Believe” essay can be an excellent opportunity for students to present their thoughts on important issues under a few simple guidelines. With a bit of planning and organization, this type of essay writing assignment can be a breeze!

What You Shouldn’t Do When Writing an “I Believe” Essay

To ensure that you are writing an “I Believe” essay and not another form of an argumentative or persuasive essay, avoid doing the following:

• Don’t provide evidence or use statistics to support your position – this is not an essay that calls for research.
• Don’t attack or criticize the beliefs of others – your goal is to share your own opinions, not to tear down those of others.
• Don’t go off on tangents – stay focused on the main points you want to make.
• Don’t speak objectively or in the third person – for example, don’t say “people believe that” or “studies show.”
• Don’t use filler words and phrases such as “I think,” “I feel,” and “it seems like.”

Use any of these 50 “I Believe” essay topics to help you brainstorm ideas for your essay!

I Believe Essay Topics About Life

• I believe that life is too short to spend time with people who bring you down.
• I believe that laughter is the best medicine
• I believe that we should make time for quiet reflection every day.
• I believe that the only thing that matters in life is love.
• I believe that we are all capable of change.
• I believe that it is never too late to learn and grow.
• I believe in the power of positive thinking.
• I believe that we should always be kind, even when it is difficult.
• I believe that there is no such thing as a coincidence.
• I believe in the saying “what goes around, comes around.”
• I believe that we are all responsible for our own happiness.
• I believe that the best things in life are free.
• I believe that it is essential to be grateful for what we have.
• I believe that it is never too late to achieve our dreams.
• I believe that we should surround ourselves with people who make us better.
• I believe that you can either love or hate something; there is no in-between.

I Believe Essay Topics About Education & School

• I believe that education is the key to a bright future
• I believe that children are our future and should be treasured as such.
• I believe that there is no such thing as a dumb question.
• I believe that schools should do more to celebrate diversity.
• I believe that homework is essential, but it should not be excessive.
• I believe in the importance of having a strong support system while attending school.
• I believe that standardized tests are not an accurate measure of a student’s knowledge.
• I believe that it is vital to find a balance between work and play while in school.
• I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn how to swim.
• I believe in the importance of recess and physical activity in students’ lives.
• I believe that there is no such thing as a bad grade.
• I believe that teachers deserve more respect and better pay.
• I believe that it is never too early to learn a foreign language.
• I believe that education should be free for everyone.

I Believe Essay Topics About Friends & Family

• I believe that family is the most important thing in life.
• I believe that friends are the family we choose for ourselves.
• I believe that it is essential to maintain close relationships with friends and family.
• I believe that there is no substitute for quality time spent with loved ones.
• I believe that family is not defined by blood but by love and commitment.
• I believe that we should spend more time with the people we care about and less time worrying about material things.
• I believe that it is better to have a few close friends than many superficial ones.
• I believe that it is healthy for friends to grow apart.
• I believe that competition between friends is healthy.

I Believe Essay Topics About Money

• I believe that money cannot buy happiness.
• I believe that it is essential to be happy with what you have, not what you want.
• I believe that people are more important than things.
• I believe that it is okay to splurge on something even if it means going into debt.
• I believe that it is better to give than to receive.
• I believe that money can’t buy everything.
• I believe that the love of money is the root of all evil.
• I believe in saving for a rainy day.
• I believe in investing in oneself.
• I believe in the saying, “money doesn’t grow on trees.”
• I believe that rich people should be forced to pay more taxes.

These 50 I Believe essay topics are sure to inspire your own original beliefs and help you create a powerful and unique essay. When writing your I Believe essay, be sure to focus on the beliefs that are most important to you and that you feel passionate about discussing. The best I Believe essays are the ones that are personal and reflective, so don’t be afraid to share your own thoughts and experiences.

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