๐๐จ ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐ ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ?
Todayโs hashtagMondayRx looks at virtual friendships and what they mean to some people.
An article in Psychology Today says, “๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ต๐บ.โ It went on further to say, โโฆ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ดโ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฐ.”
To that I say โAmen!โ
Many of us have struck up virtual friendships with people we have never met, and yet because of our interactions, we get the feeling we know these people in real life.
On October 9, I lost one such friend. When I told a colleague about it, he asked if I knew her. I told him we had never met, and yet we did. It was back in 2014 when we used to participate in a Twitter Chat called hashtagWhyiGive.
Every Tuesday night at 8:00 pm Eastern, people from around would gather on Twitter to post thoughts and quotes about hashtagkindness,
hashtaggenerosity and the importance of giving.
Even though the Chat became inactive, she and I kept in touch sporadically through the years. She was a teacher, a Christian, a coach, podcaster, an advocate for women and girls and a supporter of several other causes. She earned two PhDs, and just recently she mentioned how honoured she was to join the Board of her
coaching organization.
In January 2021, she invited me to be a guest on her Podcast. This past May, she invited me to join her in a 7-week Positive Intelligence coaching program. At first, I told her I would pass, as I had other
projects I was working on, but I changed my mind. In doing so, I met and added two new virtual friends to my network.
Imagine the feeling when one of these ladies sent an email to say our friend had gone! We were devastated!
Three days prior, October 6, she and I had exchanged messages that it was time for her to make another visit to Toronto so we could finally meet in person. It didnโt happen. I lamented over the fact I didnโt send the Jamaican Oxtail recipe she had asked me for several months ago.
As I reflect on our friendship, it wasnโt about whether we had met in person or not. After all, there are people on my street who I see almost every day, and yet we donโt know each other. But it was the mutual affinity, respect and reciprocity that we shared. Thatโs how friendships are measured, and thatโs what I will remember most.
How about you? How much value do you put on your virtual friendships?
