Valentina Flores-Velasquez

We aren't built to be alone, so when we are, the instinct is to find other people and say so out loud. There's something almost funny about it: the thing we want most when we're lonely is to not be alone in feeling lonely.

Instead of collecting friendships like stamps, it's worth asking what you're actually bringing. Where you're great. Where you're quietly dropping the ball. Where you might need more than you're letting on.

Formally, gossip is "the exchange of information about characteristics and behaviours of an absent person." Casually: talking about people when they're not in the room.