How different do you think you would be if you didn't have any of the friends you currently have?

I definitely would not be me. Friends have shaped my life in so many ways. They’ve taught me how to act in social situations, they’ve helped me to learn more about myself, they’ve allowed me to show both my good and bad side.

We’re a social species and life without friends is a life without true fulfillment.

Without friends, I’d probably be wearing rags for clothes and going out in my undies. I’d also probably be eating at home, chewing my food noisily and slurping my soup just for the heck of it.

I probably wouldn’t be any different. I’m kind of the oddball amongst my friends, they have nothing to do with that.

I will say, however, that my family and the people whom I’ve dated in the past have had more to do with shaping me into the person I am today.

When I get a friend I’ll let you know if there is any difference. :(

You guys are my friends!
My real life friends are all pretty right wing Republicans so I think I must have some integrity in myself to stay a lefty through it all.
I don’t think I would have had as much confidence in myself had I not lived 800 miles from my family for the last 20+ years though.

@AstroChuck It’ll be ok

I wouldn’t really be myself and I wouldn’t have my confidence and nobody to tell my secrets and problems to in real life and fluther.I wouldn’t know what to do in life without my friends who have been with me through the ups and downs going on in my life and life would deffinitely be different.

Oh my god, I don’t even want to think about who or where I’d be without my 2 best friends. They allow me to be myself without shame or judgment in a serious way. We’ve grown up together and had conversations and experiences together which I don’t think I would’ve found anywhere else. They’ve been completely selfless to me in times of extreme need. I would be in a bad, bad way without them. We have vowed that whichever of us dies first is to be cremated, and the others will bake a cake out of the ashes and eat it. We’re like the three fucking Musketeers, only ⅔ gay.

i really don’t have that many friends. if i had some, i might be a little more extroverted.

@ubersiren cannibalism?

@Saturated_Brain : Perhaps. I don’t know if ash cake is still people. We’re willing to risk it.

@AstroChuck I’m your friend, buddy. (:
But as @Saturated_Brain said, my friends make a very big influence on me, they taught me so many things and they shape my life as it goes. How I would’ve been if I didn’t have the friends I have now, doesn’t matter. This is me. This is where I belong. I’m living in the present, and thinking about what could’ve been is just a waste of my time. (:

I wouldn’t be alive, this is a fact. I’ve had the same core group of friends since leaving high school and have added to them over the years newer friends who seem to mix in well with the others. A few of my friends have helped in making several dreams of mine reality, that’s invaluable and fortunate since there were times I didn’t think it was wise to bother to dream.

I’d be alot more shy than I already am. They brought me out of my shell. They made me more joyful and boosted up my confidence. I would be a very lonley person without them. But I guess I’ll survive.

I would definitely not be as outgoing and confident. I would feel insecure, I just wouldnt be who I am. My personality, my life, and everything that creates who I am is formed by my friends and family.

If I didnt have a single friend in my entire life, I wouldnt have a reason to live. seriously. whats the reason to life if you dont have anybody else to share it with?

@smile1 Good point.

I don’t really feel like I have any of the friends I currently have. I’ve got noone that I am really close to, any more. My oldest friends have been out of touch and don’t know me, and my newer friends—well, either they aren’t that close—or I’m not allowed to be friends with them.

So maybe I don’t have any more friends because I’m different from the way I was. Maybe I’m different because my friends just aren’t really there for me.

I would be a 12 year old, stunningly handsome, Asian boy.

@Blondesjon wait. you aren’t?

that’s like saying, how different would you be if you had completely different interests in life.

I’d be a lot like Ed Gein. My friends keep me sane, and on an even keel. Since my wife is my best friend, I’d also be single, which is just plain scary!

I’m a loner and I have always been independent of friends. Loner in the sense that a lot of me is built on me alone. I can hang out with almost anyone but I can’t trust anyone. And i like people and get along with them but most of the time, on the really serious facets of life they haven’t been helpful even when they’ve tried their best. You can say I’m a balanced personality with a social and a loner side.

I guess you can never find friends deep enough. I’m an incurable perfectionist. I remember a movie where the guy is writing a memoir because he’s an author and his ending line is “I never found friends like the ones I had at twelve. Does anyone?”

I doubt that I’d be any different at all. Only one friend truly changed me, and she’s been gone from my life for 30 years.

I am sure I would probably be different in some ways due to the influences in my life being different in that aspect but I couldn’t tell you in what ways I would be different until I knew what the new influences (ie: friends were.

One thing I do know is that although I only consider a handful of people to be friends (rather than aquaintances) I could have done a lot worse. In most cases they have been positive influences in my life and I wouldn’t want to trade them for a different group in order to find out how it would change me.

Sorry, forgot to add, one thing you could do is study what the same person is like when dealing with different groups of people. I’m sure we have all at some point acted differently around a certain person/or people than we would around others and I know someone who has about three groups of friends (due to the amount of clubs she belongs to), none of whom know anyone from the other groups but all of whom appear to be decent people and I have seen her act completely differently depending on what group she is with. Not in a bad or false way, the different mix of people just bring out a different side to her personality.

I gave this a “great question” and will give it more thought and come back to it.

My SO has Asperger syndrome, so he has trouble socializing. That has made it very difficult for me to form friendships since I moved to a new state to be with him. it’s been pretty rough on me because people want to invite me places, but they don’t want to include him because they think he is weird, and they don’t take the time to get to know him.

So I only have a few people that I spend time with, and I haven’t been able to form the deep, life long type of friendships I’ve enjoyed before I met him. I miss having quiet time with a girlfriend, or having someone to go to lunch or shopping with. But he is learning how to be around people more and more from me, and tho it is a slow process, he is doing very well. I can’t wait for the day when we can enjoy another couple’s company.

For now, I go to a girlfriend’s house every now and then, and we catch up on things as often as possible, but it is still difficult to find the free time to spend with her because when I am off work, (which is rare) he wants me to spend the time with him. it can be lonely, but watching him grow socially is very rewarding.

In the past my friends have taught me incredible things that have changed my life:
– they were there for me daily during a personal tragedy in my early 20’s. They taught me how to be a good friend during difficult times.

- When I was 18 a close friend said to me, “I don’t understand why people who love each other are negative to each other, shouldn’t we inspire our loved ones, support them, be positive?” This was an eye opener to me, my nuclear family could be negative and harsh at times. She changed my life, especially in relation to how I treat and interact with my husband.

-Even today my closest girlfriends are there to tell me I’m hot and look great, even when they cannot see me; they listen to me when I obsess about things; they come to me when they are unsure of things, which makes me feel needed, they always seem happy to see me, which is rare that we see each other; and we laugh all of the time. I figure I save a lot of therapy money because I have them.

-Most important is my husband, who is my best friend. My life would be completely different without him.

If I didn’t have all of these people I would be very lonely and quite sad I think.

My friends see me for what I am, and remind me when I go against my natural instincts to be a good person.

I was popular in Highschool, unfortunately that was a long time ago. Most of the friends I’ve made in the last five years have died. They was a Army Ranger Medic Airborne, we used to go play guitar on Hollywood Blvd. A pro-wrestling jobber, who wrestled all the big names but never made it himself. A Chiropractor/Psyhchologist who loved taking me out to lunch and ice cream. And a few others, these were awesome people and I met them along the way. I loved them, and they’re all dead. I think I met tragic people because I’m tragic myself, this is way too much information for a dumb website.

I would be lonely.

Actually I really like this site, I just didnt like remembering those guys. If they were all alive I would have some neat friends. Instead, well, I’m alone, vulnerable, and feel that way. That

There were a select few who had a major influence on my life in my youth:

-My best friend from elementary school, who was the best student in the class. He inspired me to try hard in high school, which led to a great deal of academic success for me there and onwards.

-Two friendly but-not-so-close friends in junior high who introduced me to Isaac Asimov and computers. I haven’t spoken to them in over 15 years, but the things they introduced me to have been a big part of my life.

-My best friend in high school, who is still my best friend. We are complete opposites, which may be why we complement each other so well. He’s the one who forced me to take risks, step out of my shell and stop being shy. He’s been partially successful.

For almost a decade now, though, I’ve been a loner and very independent. Even my best friend has very little influence on me these days; he lives a totally different life from me and has completely different interests, but despite his encouragement, he hasn’t been able to budge me.

These days, I could probably get a whole new set of friends, but I doubt they’d have much of an influence on me. I’m old and set in my ways now.

I wouldn t be cooperative with out my friends