We All Need A Few 'Bad News Friends'

In the last few years, I’ve noticed a trend on social media. Lots of memes about letting your positive light shine. To be your very best you need to cut out toxic friends like a cancer. Surround yourself with positive people and that’s what you’ll become. It’s a bright, shiny, message inspiring you to live your very Best Life. And I applaud that.

But sometimes, right in the middle of living your very best life, the worst of things can happen. And in those moments, you need Bad News Friends.

When life wrings you out like a lemon gone bad, you don’t always want to hear from Little Mary Sunshine. In those moments, you may not appreciate a shining light of positivity standing in the middle of your shit storm. When all the silver linings have gone dark, you’re gonna need a few select people to count on. These are your Bad News Friends.

You call your Bad News Friends in your worst moments and most regrettable circumstances. They are the ones that hold your hair over toilets and wipe your tears over caskets. You know no matter what life throws at you, they will come. They will accept the very worst version of you simply because you’re you. With them you don’t need to hide or pretend. No matter if you are sick, angry, hurt, ashamed, naked or afraid, they will stare your Bad News in the face and they will somehow make you laugh about it.

Don’t get me wrong, we all need positive people in our lives. We need people to pick us up and brighten our days. They’re the people we choose to interact with on a daily basis. But no matter how bright and shiny your life is, someday all of us hit a dark patch. When you suddenly fall down a deep dark hole, it’s the Bad News ones that will crawl down into that hole and sit in the darkness with you until it’s time to drag yourself back into the light.

Look around your bright shiny Best Life and make sure you can still see your Bad News Friends. Some day, you’re gonna need them.

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