Lots of people who attended the homecoming dance summed it up in one word: drama. There were tears and whispers everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, it does feel awful when our friends are made at us. But since sixth grade, I’ve found that a lot of friendships actually benefit from arguments and dramatics.

I am a very dramatic person and a very opinionated person. But I’m also a very tender hearted person, so I still get sad when my best friend is mad at me, but I just trust that it’ll get better and we’ll grow as friends. Just this year, my friends and I have gotten in arguments for the most absurd reasons (and I’m sure we’re not the only ones). These tiffs have allowed me to discover a couple things along the way.

First off, crying is healthy for you! We all know crying is a mental stress reliever, but there are physical benefits as well. Crying releases toxins from our body; if you cry when you’re stressed like I do, it releases toxins that lower cortisol, or the stress hormone, says a study by Dr. William H. Frey II, a biochemist and director of the Psychiatry Research Laboratories at the St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Centre. Tears also kill bad bacteria that can be hiding in your eyes due to the fluid lysozyme found in them. Crying is good for your mood AND your eyes! Sure, we all feel like we need a thirty hour nap after crying because it’s also physically exhausting, but we also can’t deny that after the headache goes away, we feel infinitely better.

Second, arguments can cause communication in the friendship to increase. If you “fight” with staying friends in mind, you get to talk about why you were upset (and discuss whether they were really to blame or you were just taking it out on them). Even if your friend was in the wrong, it’s important to communicate because then they’ll know why you get upset and hopefully not do the same kinds of things in the future. Conflict is essential to growth not only as an individual but in friendships too.

       Drama is a natural part of high school, so you might as well embrace it and the good it can bring. Call people out. Don’t be afraid to argue. Talk it out.  It’ll bring you much closer as friends and also allow you to identify the  people who are true friends from those who are truly toxic (and need to be cut out of your life).