Recently, I crossed out goal #38 from my list of 100 goals: make a friend.

For many people, this might sound like a simple goal. For me, it wasn’t.

I am a very introverted person. I do not have many friends, and I often find it difficult to maintain friendships, especially long-distance ones. For a long time, I felt that I needed to let new people into my life and build deeper connections.

That is why I added this goal to my list.

Since 2020, I have been participating in a Bhakti women’s support group. Over the years, we have met regularly, shared our experiences, supported one another, and grown closer together.

This year, one of the ladies from our group got married. Many of us attended the wedding, and it was such a beautiful experience. We spent time together, talked, laughed, shared stories, and simply enjoyed being with one another.

As I looked around, a realization suddenly hit me.

These women are my friends.

I had been thinking about friendship as something I still needed to find. I imagined that one day I would meet new people and then I would finally be able to cross this goal off my list.

But friendship had already entered my life years ago.

It was there in our conversations, in our support for one another, in our prayers, in our laughter, and in the genuine care we shared.

These women are not only my friends. They are my spiritual sisters. They are very dear to me.

And that was the moment I realized that goal #38 was already complete.

Sometimes we spend so much time looking for something that we fail to notice it is already right in front of us.

I was looking for friendship.

And all along, I was surrounded by friends.