Monday, August 1, 2016
In honor of today being National Girlfriend Day, sometimes it’s good to reflect on what it means to be a good friend. We probably have that one friend or friends that come to mind. Someone who is your confidant, understands you, supportive of your goals and dreams. The person(s) that you can honestly say that through good and bad times will stick by you to the end. Today is the day to celebrate those friendships!
Reality tv sometimes portrays friendship as very inconsistent and drama filled. Yes at times friends have disagreements and will argue over variances in opinions, because none of us are the same.
So what can we do to maintain the right friendships to last the test of time? I have friends who have been close to me for many years and then there have been some that have only lasted for a few seasons. The true friends that have lasted are those who we took the time to grow and understand each other’s quirks, what makes us upset, knowing eachother’s personality enough to know when there’s something wrong. We embraced eachother’s talents. Many of the friends each have a different talent that we all can learn from- I have one that is an amazing cook, another that is smart with business functions, another who can piece jewelry with bold colors, another who is great at sports, another who is artsy… There’s no friendship handbook that says all girlfriends must be completey the same or like all the same things. SO UNTRUE!!! My friends are ecclectic at times, wild, timid, bold but we all get along because there was a BOND created. One where through highs and lows we could support each other and keep each other going.
This is not my conversation piece to say all of my friendships have been perfect, or I haven’t lost any along the way. I’ve have several friendships that dissolved and hurt me to lose the friendships because of misunderstandings or due to the fact that I felt that they didn’t learn to grow with me. Over the years, I’ve been through many different changes and obstacles and I had to learn and change with them… Sometimes without a choice.. Along the way, I have realizes that some mistakes were on my own behalf, but here are a few things that I learned about being a good friend.
- Show commitment and that you really care. Many friendships last due to the fact that you show that you want it to be long-lasting. You don’t treat the person as if they are disposable, but as someone you want to be in your life. This takes effort from both sides- being willing to give fully of youself and time to the friend.
- Communication.
-Good friendships thrive off of good and regular communication. Talk about each other’s interests, whether similar to your own or not. Be open to know they can lern something fom you and vice versa. Learn to respect the other’s opinions. Be able to take and give advice to each other, even if it’s the things they may not want to hear. Be a loyal friend that’s willing to have the tough conversations.
– Learn to communicate without social media. Communication has become less and less because we’d rather talk through social media or through text messages. Learn to enjoy face to face interaction or phone conversations. Nothing is worse than to not be able to communicate with people or to be socially awkward. - Don’t expect more of them than what they can give. None of us are created the same. We all have different capabilities of what we can offer in a friendship. Don’t expect them to always give of themselves the way you do because we aren’t all created with the same capacity. We don’t want to expect perfection of our friends because we are not pefect ourselves. Allow them to give of themselves in the friendship the best way they can.
Remember to have a friend, you must be a friend. So to celebrate National Girlfriend Day, keep these reminders in mind to keep our best friendships thriving!!!
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Mahogany Rose Girl 