August 25, 2014

Alexa & Judith's Epic Summer Read-Along || Friendships (The Online Kind)


Today, Judith & I are kicking off the round of posts that were inspired by Morgan Matson's latest novel, Since You've Been Gone! This book has Morgan's finely honed characters, and a well-written story all about self-discovery and friendship set during the summertime. Today, Judith and I wanted to talk a little bit about online friendships, and the friendships that have bloomed because of our involvement in the book blogging community! (If you're interested in my real life besties, here's a post for you.)


I never, ever, ever thought I'd be meeting some of my closest friends through the internet. In fact, if you'd asked me years ago if I thought I'd be connecting with people through the World Wide Web, I probably would have just stared at you before bursting into laughter. So, to say that I had my doubts about internet relationships would be fairly accurate.

Now, 3 years or so into blogging, I've come to realize that I can form legitimate friendships from interactions with people online (through blogging and through Twitter, mostly). My online friendships began from either a conversation on Twitter or a comment on the blog, usually about our mutual love of books, authors and blogging. And because the internet is awesome, I've gotten to chat (and even meet) a lot of the blogger friends I've made since I started this little blog!

But there are definitely certain people who have transcended the line of online friendship to become people who I consider some of my closest friends in real life. What shifted those friendships into something different? Well, I personally think the turning point is always when our conversations move past simple discussions of books and authors and blogs, and become moments where we talk about things going on in our personal lives. There's a change in dynamic, as you start confiding about things you're going through (good and bad) and you begin to share things that are deeply personal.

I'm lucky enough to have become really good friends with some great ladies, gals who I truly believe are some of my closest friends and feel comfortable confiding in about "real life" things:
But the point of the matter is this: I never thought I'd form online friendships, but nowadays, I cannot imagine my life without these ladies. Even though distance and time might keep me apart from most of them, it's become a part of my regular routine to chat with them and even confide in them. I love that the internet allowed us to meet, but I love it even more that we hit it off in real life too! 

Honestly, good friendships can be hard to find so I'm grateful for the ones I've got, no matter how they came about. Much love to all of you ladies, and to all my readers (who I consider my friends) too! Now, hop on over to Paperiot and check out Judith's post for today too.

4 Comments:

  1. Love this post! <3 I'm so glad we met and became such good friends. I love our constant daily chats and all our little adventures. Can't wait to hang out this weekend!

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  2. I'm So so honored to be included!!! I'm so glad we finally got to meet. I love chatting with you and hope we can make another city date soon!!!

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  3. Oh my gosh I love this!!! I am so honored to be included in your harem of friends! I totally agree with everything in this post. I believe too that you can have real life friendships not only with people you meet on the internet through blogging but people you may have not even met in real life. I count you as well as a few others are some of my closest friends even though we don't live close to one another. Oh, I just love this and I love you and I am so grateful to have you as a friend!! <3

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  4. This is so neat! Though I've yet to meet any of my only book friends in real life, I definitely know I've got 'em and the friendship is legitimate. I really wouldn't have imagined it be possible either.

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