When my best friend encouraged me to get back in the discipline of writing, I thought the timing was perfect to the Write 31 Days Challenge. I haven’t written consistently on my blog in over a year, but in typical Caitlin fashion, why not commit to writing 31 days in a row?

The only way I knew I could try to do this is by picking a topic that I love. And there’s not much that I love more in the world than friendship. I love spending time with friends. I love being a friend. I like talking about being a friend. I even love reading and learning about friendship.

But for me to actually attempt to write about something for 31 days, I needed it to feel relevant and important.

The more I talk with my peers, the more I hear about how lonely we are, how segmented our lives feel and how we desire to be known.

The more I learn about trauma and healing, the more I realize that connection and relationship is how we get there.

The more complicated my own life gets, the more I realize how much I need people around me, reminding me of who I am and who God is.

I’ve never ever been more convinced of the importance of friendship.

So, over the next month, I’m going to try to cover friendship from different angles. We’re going to talk about why friendship is important, some practical tips on friendship, my favorite friendship resources, friendship in the Bible, and I’m even going to spotlight some of my favorite friends.

I am far from a friendship expert. In fact, part of me feels like a hypocrite for starting this journey because I know for certain that there are friendships that I’ve let fall apart and friends who I’ve failed. But, I also know that friendship isn’t something you perfect. It’s a practice. It’s an art.

My prayer as we journey down the friendship path together over the next 31 days is that we would both learn something new about friendship, and hopefully, we end up with some steps to make the friendships in our lives a little bit richer and deeper.