Week 12 Post 1

While reading chapter nineteen, I found the section about intimacy versus isolation and friendship to be very interesting because it is information that I can relate to and apply to my own life. People experience the crisis of intimacy versus isolation after achieving identity. It arises from the powerful desire to share one's personal life with someone else. Without intimacy, adults suffer from loneliness and isolation. All theorists agree that adults become friends, lovers, companions, and partners. One reason in which our species has thrived is because of the urge for social connection. Intimate relationships satisfy psychic needs and require certain behaviors. Intimacy progresses from attraction to close connection to ongoing commitment. Each relationship demands some personal sacrifice and vulnerability that brings deeper self-understanding and shatters the isolation caused by too much self-protection. A more recent theory states that an important aspect of close human connections is "self-expansion". It is the idea that each of us enlarges our understanding, our experiences, and our resources through our intimate friends and lovers. In life, individuals choose friends  for the qualities that make them good companions, trustworthy confidants, and reliable sources of support. Since friends are earned and chosen, having close friends is positively correlated with happiness and self-esteem lifelong. Having friends during emerging adulthood is very important and is even more essential for individuals who are not in a romantic relationship. During emerging adulthood, individuals have few family obligations because in most cases, they do not have a spouse, children, or frail parents. Instead, they have friends who provide companionship and critical support.