'One of the things that frustrates me most of all is our culture's obsession with 'small talk friendship'; this weird idea that's crept up on us that relationships are all about impressing each other; whipping out the best joke at just the right moment to make everyone laugh, or just the constant exchange of nothing more then polite pleasantries and the glorified versions of lives (particularly through social media.) I definitely fall victim to this and often I will work on maintaining smooth conversation rather then actually investing in people and relationships. And our relationship has indefinitely fallen victim to this; I often care too much about trying to amuse you or impress you that I sometimes neglect actually making any emotional investment in our relationship. I'm sorry for being so shallow.'
- Extract from a letter written to a dear friend.
