Friendship is an essential part of human connection. It brings joy, provides support, and helps us navigate life’s challenges. But not all friendships are created equal. A good friendship is built on mutual respect as well as some other factors which we will explore in our article today.
1. Trust and Honesty: The Cornerstone of Friendship
Trust is the bedrock of any strong relationship, and friendship is no exception. A true friend is someone you can rely on, someone who stands by their promises and respects your confidentiality. Honesty works hand-in-hand with trust, fostering open communication and ensuring misunderstandings are resolved quickly. It’s important that both parties stay honest with each other. As soon as one person lies and the other finds out, it’s hard to build up that trust again. Friendships can easily be broken if honesty is not upheld within the relationship. You have to ask yourself, is losing this friend worth a lie? If the answer is no, I would say honesty is the best policy.
2. Mutual Respect: Valuing Each Other’s Differences
Respect in friendship is about acknowledging and valuing all the different aspects of the other person. It also means accepting differences in personality, opinions, and lifestyles without trying to impose your beliefs or control their actions. Being disrespectful can ruin a good friendship. It is important that both friends are equally respectful towards each other in order to keep up a good self-sustaining friendship over a long period of time. It also helps to avoid unnecessary arguments.
3. Empathy and Emotional Support: A Safe Haven
A good friend offers empathy and emotional support, standing by you in tough times and celebrating your victories. It is important however, that in order to keep the balance in your friendship, to try and ensure that the support goes both ways. Try not to be the one who is always complaining to the other person. When emotional support goes both ways, then you are more likely to have a longer friendship with that person. Sometimes friends can just disappear from your lives without telling you why. Take stock of how much you lay your burdens on the other person. Ensure to try to make it a reciprocal thing so that one person doesn’t feel that they are always supporting you without getting support in return.
4. Shared Interests and Experiences: Building Memories
While opposites may attract, shared interests are often the glue that binds friendships together. Whether it’s a love for the same music, hobbies, or shared life experiences, these commonalities create a foundation for fun and connection. Find friends who share the same interests as you. These are the ones that are more likely to stand the test of time. They are also the ones where you will have the fondest memories to cherish.
5. Consistency and Effort: Keeping the Connection Alive
Friendships, like any relationship, require effort to thrive. A good friend stays consistent, reaching out regularly and making time to connect. It’s important that in order to nurture your friendship and keep it alive, that you make time for your friend. A good friendship can peter out if you don’t nurture it by making the effort to do things together. Don’t wait for your friend to reach out all the time. It’s important to also make those efforts to suggest getting together. Be it a coffee date, going for a walk or hike or just hanging out at the others place, it’s important for both people to make the effort to do things together.
6. Healthy Communication: The Key to Understanding
Good friends communicate openly and respectfully. They express their feelings, address issues without hostility, and know when to listen instead of speaking. A good friendship should consist of openly talking about whatever is on your mind without fear of being judged or that whatever you shared is going to be held against you at a later time.
7. Encouragement and Growth: Uplifting Each Other
One of the most positive aspects of friendship is the mutual encouragement it provides. A good friend will cheer for your successes, support your dreams, and challenge you to become your best self. As a good friend, you should be able to take constructive criticism without getting upset. Your friend could be a good source of objective opinion from an outside prospective. A good friend should be always willing to support the other person and uplift them which in turn can help the other person when they are going through difficult times.
Conclusion
If you are lucky enough to find a supportive friend who you can trust, who is respectful and likes to spend time with you, be sure to try to make that mutual effort to build and sustain that friendship. Watch out for the warning signs in people who don’t share the same values as you. You don’t want your friendship to be a something that causes you unnecessary emotional strife. You want to nurture the good connections and weed out the ones that don’t add value to your life. And most of all, remember that it is a 2-way street. A good friendship takes mutual respect, support and give and take.
About Lisa
Lisa was born and raised in the Vancouver area of Canada. She became a Life Coach after obtaining her Coaching certificate in the spring of 2022. Lisa has suffered from depression most of her life and has navigated the challenges of loneliness. She has now dedicated her life to helping those feeling lonely and depressed by providing emotional support as well as career and/or business guidance. Having also been embroiled in narcissistic relationships through friends, family, and love relationships, and through extensive research, she is an expert on the subject of Narcissism.
Lisa provides low-cost mentoring/coaching at a fraction of the price other traditional coaches charge. She wanted to offer those who normally cannot afford coaching sessions at the standard $100 or more an hour rates the chance to still access help. For more information or to book a session with Lisa, go to www.ygafchatandmentor.com. She will be happy to help you with whatever trials you are facing, leading you toward a better, more positive future.