Friendships are easily one of the best parts of life. Having the chance to share our life with the people who truly get us is indeed a blessing. As much as we want the best of friends, we also need to make sure that we’re great friends to others in addition.
Here are 12 Wonderful Ways to Be a Great Friend.
1. Loving the Differences
We have to keep the fact in mind that we all are different from each other and that’s exactly what makes us unique in our own way. We might not have a trait that our friend does have and vice versa. We need to accept our friends for who they are and appreciate their quirks in a positive way.
2. Reciprocating
When your text gets left on read and when you have to initiate every single conversation, it doesn’t feel very good, does it? We must not make someone else feel that way. We must put effort into the people we love and have reciprocating connections to be a great friend.
3. Maintaining Trust
This has to be one of the most important parts of being in a friendship. If a person trusts you enough to share with you their darkest secrets, you must be trustworthy enough to keep that trust intact. Also, never go around spreading rumors or fidgeting around something that someone said in a rage or the heat of a moment.
4. Being Honest & Real
If a friend of yours asks for an opinion, give your most genuine one. If you care about a person, tell them what you mean instead of sugar-coating anything. If one of their actions is not up to the mark, if one of their outfits doesn’t suit them well, be real enough to point that out so that you don’t have to watch them suffer or regret later.
5. Being Loyal
Real friends never turn their backs on each other. Staying loyal is extremely important in a friendship. People can find tons of friends who will take their fair share of their happiness, but it’s rare to find people who are there when we’re upset or when we truly need them.
6. Encouraging Each Other
Society is full of judgemental and pessimistic people who will always find something awful in everything. We should be the ones who encourage their friends to fulfill their dreams and do what they truly want to do. Becoming a friend’s true supporter is indeed what a great pal should do!
7. Taking Interest
Having engaging conversations with people makes them feel needed and special. So, it is actually essential to check up on your friends once in a while.
8. Being a Listener
Sometimes, all we need is a person who will listen. And yes, it is indeed that simple. Sometimes, people don’t need our advice or opinions, and all we need to do at that moment is that we need to listen while showing immense support and making them feel heard.
9. Validating Feelings
At times, we tend to force our own choices in our loved ones’ lives, while that may come from a very loving instinct, we also need to validate and respect other people’s true feelings and let them do or feel what they truly want to. When one of our friends feels upset, maybe we should let them cry a bit on our shoulders instead of forcing them to put on a smile that might end up being pretentious. Though we should always show a better path to our pals, we also need to make sure that we don’t become a burden on them with the overdose of positivity.
10. Maintaining Boundaries
Not just in friendships, this is important in every kind of relationship. Maintaining healthy boundaries with each other and carrying a certain sense of detachment might be the key to keeping friendships and relationships! No matter how close we feel to each other, we all have our own lives and the capability to make our own choices, and just letting each other be is extremely essential.
11. Working through Conflicts
Just like every other relationship, conflicts may arise in friendships as well. However, we need to be willing to work through those conflicts, leave the past where it is, and start afresh with more love.
12. Helping Each Other
This one surely doesn’t need mentioning, as we all know how essential of a duty of ours it is to help our friends when needed.
The friends that we see every day now, might not be seen by us daily after a couple of years. As we grow, our tribe grows with us, but a part of it also grows distant at times. So, we must appreciate the people that we have now and try our very best to be great friends to them.
Read also – 6 Golden Rules for a Beautiful Life