Friends. How many of us have them? Or how many friends do you have? Friends are fun and all but they play a vital role in our personal growth.
Sometimes you may hear someone say, “I don’t need friends.” Well, guess what? That would make one arrogant person. Sometimes people think friends are just simply people you hang with. But truthfully, friends play a huge role in our lives, especially the good ones.
There’s so many different reasons to keep friends close by but here’s 4 that I found that were critical.
Close friends support.
Your friends that truly love and believe in you will support you through thick and thin. They don’t secretly wish you would fail. In fact, they will try to help you in whatever way they can to make sure you’re moving and growing. You can be a super strong and focused individual and you still need really good close friends.
Couple friendships.
Having friendships with couples can truly help your own relationship. Usually both parties can relate to each other. They can offer solid advice or solutions from an outside perspective. You can travel or do double dates. This keeps the relationships interesting and fun. There’s a higher chance for longer lasting relationships when you have couple friends. Couple friends typically want you to be happy. This makes their advice or opinions genuine.
Friends help define your priorities.
People tend to choose friends who are like them. This fact falls under the general rule of closeness in intimate relationships, since like tends to attract like. Since we fall into the trap of similarities so easily, it is important to try to stretch ourselves in order to learn from some of these opposites. Flora points to the many ways in which “birds, feathers, flock”. Knowing this can help you grow by expanding your circle of friends and trying new perspectives.
Your Friends Can Check You.
You need friends that can put you in your place. You need friends that can offer a solid perspective of your choices. You need the kind of friends that will tell you when your right and tell you when you’re wrong. Real friends contain enough love for you that they can talk to you in a way that most people can’t. Not saying close friends should be disrespectful. Just saying they can be a bit more direct than a stranger when telling you about yourself. This is one of the best benefits of having a good close friend. Many times people get caught up in self abuse or abuse to others because they have no one telling them about themselves.
Granted I get it can be kind of scary opening up to people but one of the worst things you could ever do is shut yourself off from the world. You have to be able to express yourself and your thoughts. Otherwise, you’re going to find yourself living a rough and lonely life.
We weren’t created amongst others just to be alone. No. Your growth and character is developed through how you handle your experiences and sometimes you’re going to need a good friend to get through. So stop pushing those away who genuinely love you. Make an effort to become a better person. Make an effort to be a good friend to your good friends. You never know what can come from it.