It is human nature for people to need to feel some type of connection with other people. People who are lonely are generally more unhealthy and they do not live as long as people who are not lonely. Social people are more active and tend to have better lifestyle habits than people who spend most of their time alone. When it comes to relationships, there are different types, but they all have a beneficial effect on people in them. 

Friendships are a type of relationship that virtually every person experiences on some level at some time in their life. Friends go out and shop together, eat together, and share things about themselves that are not decipherable without some type of relationship being present between the people involved. As people get older, friendships and the people in them change and evolve over time. Having friends means that there are people around you that share feelings that you have about things and they are there to help you out when you need a ride somewhere or you need someone to watch your house while you are away on a business trip. In general, friendships help people by giving them a shoulder to cry on and they also become the shoulder when someone else needs one to cry on. Relationships give life meaning by allowing a person to be vulnerable when they are going through a hard time, but they are also there for others when they need support also. 

Romantic relationships are another type of relationship that give life meaning by allowing the people that are in the relationship to share a deeper connection with the person they are in the relationship with. Relationships enhance a person’s life by providing them with the love and support that is not found in a friendship, and more intimacy is shared between the two people involved in the romantic relationship. In a bad relationship, people learn what is not an appropriate way to share feelings, and it also allows people to break those relationships that are not benefiting the emotionally. Sometimes this is something that a person chooses, when they are the one doing the breaking up, and sometimes they are not given the option of ending the relationship because the other person decides to end it first.

Relationships give life meaning by providing people with social skills that not only help them form and keep lasting friendships, but they also show people what is not acceptable behavior in a social setting. Problem-solving skills and compromise are also important ways that relationships give life meaning.  Think of it this way, life is a plain bowl of macaroni, but relationships are the cheese that makes the macaroni delicious.