The world is a tough place and it’s going to be mighty difficult to get through life all by oneself. Humans are social animals and are designed to survive best within a group. Perhaps we aren’t designed to work well in huge mega groups, but most people do like some company.
It’s often group effort that accomplishes great things. Even surviving a famine is a great task. Real food famines aren’t something most industrialized nations need to worry about. However, economic famines can also be quite challenging. Economic survival is easier if we have a great social support system of friends.
Pooling resources is often more efficient than having each individual struggling on their own.
Another area where friendship is most helpful is when an individual or group needs to change. This could be a voluntary change or one that is forced by the environment.
Social support can make the difference between successfully changing or not. In dog training I frequently see how social support can affect a training program’s effectiveness. Getting buy-in from all stakeholders is one of my jobs as a dog training consultant. Without having the support of household members and to a lesser extent friends, the dog will be more difficult to train. It’s not impossible, but it will take more effort.
When a group is committed to accomplishing a project such as training the family dog that task is much easier to accomplish.
Wishing you the best in training and in life,
Andrew Ledford