Someone checking in on you can make you feel a little better. Especially if it's your favorite muppet from your childhood. Recently Elmo, a red muppet from Sesame Street took to X to ask people how they were doing Monday, Jan 29. He wrote, "Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?" Mental health concerns are growing these days or we can say that the acceptance of mental health concerns is growing these days. This is a good thing because as per the stages of grief, acceptance leads to healing. Several people responded to Elmo's post using it as an outlet to express their grief. People collectively told Elmo what was wrong with their lives while others decided to keep in and not trouble the muppet with their worries. The thread has taken X by storm. Even more so, since fellow muppets decided to back Elmo and lend an ear to him and the people facing mental health concerns.
An X user @Contrarian wrote, "Every morning, I cannot wait to go back to sleep. Every Monday, I cannot wait for Friday to come. Every single day and every single week for life." He also wrote a poem as a follow-up comment, "And then one day you find. Ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run. You missed the starting gun. The sun is the same in a relative way. But you're older. Shorter of breath, and one day closer to death." Another user @woshingo wrote, "I’m at my lowest. Thanks for asking." Another user @ohgoshga wrote, "Has anyone checked in on you, Elmo? How’re you, pal?" Another user @TheTekShow wrote, "I’m not gonna do this to you Elmo. I’m gonna hold it in and let you keep your peace. How is Zoe’s pet rock, by the way."
The thread received a whopping response and more than 193M views. This shows how everyone in society needs people they can talk to without feeling judged. The response was so overwhelming that Elmo posted a follow-up thread saying, "Wow! Elmo is glad he asked! Elmo learned that it is important to ask a friend how they are doing. Elmo will check in again soon, friends! Elmo loves you." Several people asked Elmo how he was doing including many of his muppet friends. Grover wrote, "I, Grover, am here to be a good listener whenever you need it!" Oscar the Grouch wrote, "I’m not great at listening to others share their big feelings, but my worm Slimey is. You should talk with him if you ever need to chat." Cookie Monster wrote, "Me here to talk it out whenever you want. Me will also supply cookies."
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: A view of a photo booth with Elmo during "Mindful Families" presented by Headspace in partnership with Sesame Street and Unicorn Productions at Second Floor on September 06, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Headspace)
A few other friends also stopped by to show their support for Elmo in their own special way. Snuffleupagus wrote that he was glad that he had huge ears for listening to people while Abby Cadaby told him to stop by her garden if he ever needed a reminder of how magical he is. Other friends also offered to talk over a warm cup of tea. The multiple responses on the thread reflected that just having someone who wants to listen to you can make a big difference to the state you are in. The responses also show that we should collectively check on people we care for and ask them how they are doing once in a while. At the same time, we should also try to be honest about our feelings in front of our loved ones. That takes you a step closer to getting the help you need.
Ladder leads out of darkness.Photo credit 
Woman's reflection in shadow.Photo credit 
Young woman frazzled.Photo credit 
Will your current friends still be with you after seven years?
Professor shares how many years a friendship must last before it'll become lifelong
Think of your best friend. How long have you known them? Growing up, children make friends and say they’ll be best friends forever. That’s where “BFF” came from, for crying out loud. But is the concept of the lifelong friend real? If so, how many years of friendship will have to bloom before a friendship goes the distance? Well, a Dutch study may have the answer to that last question.
Sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst and his team in the Netherlands did extensive research on friendships and made some interesting findings in his surveys and studies. Mollenhorst found that over half of your friendships will “shed” within seven years. However, the relationships that go past the seven-year mark tend to last. This led to the prevailing theory that most friendships lasting more than seven years would endure throughout a person’s lifetime.
In Mollenhorst’s findings, lifelong friendships seem to come down to one thing: reciprocal effort. The primary reason so many friendships form and fade within seven-year cycles has much to do with a person’s ages and life stages. A lot of people lose touch with elementary and high school friends because so many leave home to attend college. Work friends change when someone gets promoted or finds a better job in a different state. Some friends get married and have children, reducing one-on-one time together, and thus a friendship fades. It’s easy to lose friends, but naturally harder to keep them when you’re no longer in proximity.
Some people on Reddit even wonder if lifelong friendships are actually real or just a romanticized thought nowadays. However, older commenters showed that lifelong friendship is still possible:
“I met my friend on the first day of kindergarten. Maybe not the very first day, but within the first week. We were texting each other stupid memes just yesterday. This year we’ll both celebrate our 58th birthdays.”
“My oldest friend and I met when she was just 5 and I was 9. Next-door neighbors. We're now both over 60 and still talk weekly and visit at least twice a year.”
“I’m 55. I’ve just spent a weekend with friends I met 24 and 32 years ago respectively. I’m also still in touch with my penpal in the States. I was 15 when we started writing to each other.”
“My friends (3 of them) go back to my college days in my 20’s that I still talk to a minimum of once a week. I'm in my early 60s now.”
“We ebb and flow. Sometimes many years will pass as we go through different things and phases. Nobody gets buttsore if we aren’t in touch all the time. In our 50s we don’t try and argue or be petty like we did before. But I love them. I don’t need a weekly lunch to know that. I could make a call right now if I needed something. Same with them.”
Maintaining a friendship for life is never guaranteed, but there are ways, psychotherapists say, that can make a friendship last. It’s not easy, but for a friendship to last, both participants need to make room for patience and place greater weight on their similarities than on the differences that may develop over time. Along with that, it’s helpful to be tolerant of large distances and gaps of time between visits, too. It’s not easy, and it requires both people involved to be equally invested to keep the friendship alive and from becoming stagnant.
As tough as it sounds, it is still possible. You may be a fortunate person who can name several friends you’ve kept for over seven years or over seventy years. But if you’re not, every new friendship you make has the same chance and potential of being lifelong.